The Blue Church

When Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians as a judgment of God, it appeared that all was lost. Jeremiah wrote a long poem about the devastation, not only to record what had happened,

As I passed through the old neighborhood, the yeasty aroma of bread baking was intense. The bakery, a red brick flat roofed two-story affair on a double corner lot,

We all have heard the warning, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” and that is good advice. We often miss things in people which at first are not apparent or even purposely hidden from view.

Life makes much more sense when we realize that everything we do is calculated to contribute to our happiness. Everything.

We have become a nation of consumers, and our choices in grocery stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, web providers, shipping companies, and retailers have grown exponentially.

The book of Numbers begins with the mustering of an army and ends with one as well. The new recruits are the sons of the cowardly who died in the wilderness, refusing to follow Joshua into the Promised Land.

Another key lesson we learn from the whole Balaam episode concerns curses. What are they, exactly? Do they work? Should we fear them?

We’ve seen that even though Balaam had wicked motives, the Lord used him to utter blessings on behalf of His people. Although it’s a strange story, it demonstrates, on several levels, how God’s will is accomplished and proclaimed often through very unlikely candidates.

The story of Balaam and his argument with a donkey was a favorite of mine in childhood Sunday School. I remember well the book and accompanying flannelgraph figures showing the donkey straying from the path, crushing Balaam’s foot against the wall, and finally lying down on the path, t

As a child, it was troubling to me that Moses, of all people, didn’t get to enter the Promised Land. After all, he had led Israel out of Egypt, put up with them nearly forty years in the desert,