My daughter recently discovered a synonym for the word ‘meditate’—ruminate. When I casually mentioned that cows ruminate when they ‘chew their cud’ she burst out laughing. She said she’ll always have the association of meditating on God’s Word with cows chewing their cud!
They’re back! There’s one. There’s another. Look over there. I see it too! The lightning bugs had returned to brighten the evening hours. The girls squealed with amazement at the sight, and my own mind went back to childhood days when we ran to catch them in Mason jars then marveled at the twinkling container.
Jesus told a short story to a group of grumbling religious leaders to illustrate a poignant point—God will intensely search for those who need His love and salvation. He used a desperate woman, of all things, for his story. She’d lost a coin worth a day’s wage. She had only ten and one was lost. She lit a small oil lamp, the only source of light in her small windowless home, and searched carefully until she found it. She then invited her women friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. Jesus adds in verse 10, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner who repents.”
I met a man from Mosul, Kurdistan, an elegant godly man. That’s when Nineveh and the story of Jonah and the whale became real to me. Mosul is the modern-day city of Nineveh. The gentleman grew up there and told me Jonah’s Tomb was located there, though recently desecrated.
I’ve enjoyed reading through the Old Testament minor prophets. I wanted to focus on the circumstances in Israel’s history as well as the God’s message entrusted to them to proclaim. The twelve minor prophets were sometimes referred to as The Book of the Twelve since scrolls often combined them within one scroll: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Johan, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi. Importantly, though, they were called ‘minor’ prophets only because of the length of the books, not because of a lesser important message.
While fishing on a river near flood stage, my husband noticed what appeared to be red leaves floating at a distance. But upon close inspection, he discovered instead that each red patch was composed of thousands of ants intertwined. Heavy rains had washed the ants out of their homes. They were holding onto each other and floating in order to survive. When Don splashed water on the ants, the water bounced off. These ants were averting disaster by remaining close to one another.
What goes through your mind when someone with a bad cough sits beside you? Do you pray, Lord, don’t let me catch what he has! Being in public while physically contagious isn’t good. But believers are all called to be spiritually contagious. We are to go forth and spread the gospel of Jesus.
My sister and I took a trip to the San Diego zoo. On the zoo’s tour bus, the guide gave numerous fascinating and sometimes comical facts about the animals. A tour bus travels by the ostrich pen approximately every 15 minutes. Because the ostrich’s brain is extremely small for the size of its body, each time an ostrich sees a tour bus, it’s a brand new experience!
Would you describe yourself as relationally wise? Here is a description of relational wisdom: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17). Take a moment to think about each of those descriptors. How closely do these parallel your attitudes and actions toward others?
The woman near me in the waiting room began to talk. She told me her age, how she met her husband, about their first date, how long they had been married, that her brown hair was not dyed, and much more. Frankly, I was amazed at the amount of personal information she shared.
“Take my hand, Claudia, I will keep you safe crossing this road.” I cannot count the number of times my parents said this when I was a child.
Many “several years ago” when I had a hard body and long hair, I did some mountain climbing and rock climbing. During those times, I heard many climbers making pleas and promises to God such as: “Help me, Jesus! Lord, if you just get me off this mountain, I promise I will never do this again.” Sometimes during climbing the fear level on a Richter scale of 1 to 10 can be a 25.
Last month, while jeeping on an alpine trail at 12,500 feet altitude, I was astounded at the bounty of glorious flowers. There were natural-formed bouquets of golden sunflowers, delicate lavender blooms scattered among them, and an array of pink and white blossoms peeking around the rocks.
My professional background is in healthcare, and ever since my very first anatomy and physiology class I have been fascinated with the beauty, complex simplicities, and precision of God’s creation-----us!
In the little one stop-light town where we vacation during the summer there is a herd of deer that roam the yards, streets, even Main Street, and the parks much to the delight of everyone except some avid gardeners. As my little nephews excitedly exclaim, “Look there are mommy deer, daddy deer, and baby deer!” What a pleasure to watch them quietly move gracefully by you.
It is hardly news that traditional marriage is in trouble. And its main competition is not from all the inroads made by its exotic rivals--same-sex marriage, open marriage, polygamy—as we might fear. These days, traditional marriage might just be its own worst enemy.
The Pharisees had been shadowing Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. They had heard His teaching and were eyewitnesses to His miracles. And when He quoted the Law, likely their lips moved in silent unison. Their verdict? “He has a demon.” In doing so, they denied both His Divinity and the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in His life, concluding that He was just a man. And a damaged one, at that.sin
Three different types of behavior but each stamped with the same label: hypocrite. And hypocrisy, bottom line, is pretending to be something you aren’t.
It is hard to read these words of Jesus without a Halloween-like movie scene coming to mind. And since most of us fret over the occasional splinter, we can’t imagine that submitting to a voluntary amputation as much of a solution to anything.
Almost 2,800 years ago, God came to a farmer named Amos. He told Amos to put down his rake and pruning shears and take up the mantle of a prophet. Amos’ assignment was to speak uncompromising words of coming judgment to the corrupt northern kingdom of Israel: prophecies that included natural disasters, military defeat and eventual exile. Then, in the middle of graphic descriptions of earthquakes and foreign invasions, came this warning
