What is the message Paul preached to the people in the city of Thessalonica? He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” Acts 17:3 … that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own …
Out of the Chaos
Inspiration for living outside of the chaos.
Reading the letters preserved in the New Testament is like listening to a one-sided telephone conversation. Not knowing for sure what the other person is saying, it is possible to make a solid guess if you listen well to the responses of the person near you. So when we read these letters, we don’t know …
Context. It’s everything. One hot summer day, many years ago, I went swimming in the river behind my childhood home with a couple of my sisters, a couple of nephews and my sister-in-law. If you were watching from afar, you would have seen me go underwater, come back out of the water and slap my …
Wow! How did it get to be August 1 already? For the last number of months, I have been praying about posting a daily devotional Monday through Friday and taking Saturday and Sunday off. I have no reason except my normal rhythym for devotional reading has been Monday through Friday for so many years I …
In 1942, Robert Emmett Winsett wrote a song entitled “Jesus is Coming Soon.” (You can click on the link to hear the Oakridge Boys 2005 version of the song from their album “Common Thread.”) The song won a Dove award at the first GMA Dove Awards in 1969 for Gospel Song of the Year. Since …
Wisdom from the Lord… This is what the Lord says: Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty …
Monday morning I sat down to read for a bit and turned to the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. Looking for a particular passage, I came across a verse I underlined in chapter 7. Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. Isaiah 7:9 Immediately, I recalled a ballet audition …
There is so much controversy swirling around us these days. Everywhere a person turns, someone is posting or postulating on what they do or do not like about current events. I try to stay away from the arguments. For many reasons, but mostly because it steals my joy. At times, I wonder if I will …
These are unusual times. This is not the first time there have been unusual times. Remember the wise teacher’s words in Ecclesiastes, History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly …
Out of the Chaos 