RUMINATIONS OF A REVEREND

          In a political shocker to many, the 45 th president of the United States was elected as the 47 th president of the United States this past Tuesday. The only other president to be re-elected after losing a re-election bid was Grover Cleveland who was elected to a second term in 1892 after losing his re-election bid in 1888. The response to Trump’s election brought celebrations from some and tears from others, but whether it was Donald Trump or Kamala Harris elected, God has the same command for His people—pray. In light of that command, I invite you to join me in praying for President-elect Trump and continue to pray for President Biden as he finishes his term. However, specifically for President-elect Trump, I came across three passages that I’ll be using to guide my prayers. Psalm 119:66, 67 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.   ...

 What could James have been talking about when he wrote, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…” (James 1:2). Was James serious? Did he mean for us to actually rejoice when we experience trials? Our natural bent is to run from trials or get through them as quickly as possible. Certainly, we don’t feel like rejoicing. When we experience a financial setback, physical illness, or emotional trauma, we pray that God will take away the problem and get us out of the trial ASAP. We certainly see no reason to “count it all joy.” Last night at the Paris Olympics Katie Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle in dominating fashion. The second-place finisher was over ten seconds behind her. She set a new Olympic record (beating her own Olympic record) with a time of 15:30.02. She now has the 20 fastest times in the history of the women’s 1500-meter freestyle race. She is unbeaten in the 1500-meter and 800-meter at the World Championships and Olympics. She has won ...

Now I can’t say for sure that this verse is the verse MOST quoted out of context, but I feel confident it would land in the top five at least. You will hear it used in the field of sports or inspirational talks around the world. It’s Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Steph Curry writes that verse on his shoes before a game. It’s become his ‘mantra’ according to an interview he had with ESPN’s Nick DePaula. "It's a mantra that I live by and something that drives me every single day," Curry said. "It'll hopefully inspire people to find something that drives them, whether that's a verse or some other motivating force that keeps you hungry and keeps you driven." Tim Tebow would often have Phil. 4:13 written on his eye black for football games. You can find plenty of T-shirts with the verse emblazoned on the front or back. You find this in the fitness world particularly. If you want to reach that new PR in your bench...

Principles found in the natural world often correlate to the spiritual world. Jesus revealed this through parables like the parable of the sower, the tares and wheat, and his reference to the leaven of the Pharisees. Principles in the natural world often have parallel spiritual realities. This applies in the area of strength training. How we develop and build strength physically parallels how we grow spiritually stronger. Knowing this helps us understand James 1:2-4 a little better. The wording of that passage can be troubling. We read, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds .” That sounds a little out there at first. How could we legitimately “count it all joy” when confronted with trials, some of them horrific. We’re tempted to chalk up James’ use of ‘joy’ to hyperbole and say that he didn’t literally mean to find joy. Maye he just meant we shouldn’t let trials get us down too much. However, I don’t believe we need to go there, nor should we. When...

 If you are literally hitting a donkey, then please stop now! But I’m quite confident that most people reading this blog don’t own a donkey, and you are wondering why you have even read this far. But please read on. You might not own a literal donkey, but by the end of this blog, you may discover you not only have a donkey, but you have yelled at, kicked, and been quite angry with it. With that in mind, let’s look at Balaam and his talking donkey. Now a talking donkey might evoke images from Shrek for many, but thousands of years before Eddie Murphy put words in a donkey’s mouth, God did in the story of Balaam. You can find the story in Numbers chapters 22-24. The story begins with messengers from a pagan king going to Balaam and asking him to curse the Israelites for a fee. Balaam puts the messengers up for the night and inquires of God about their offer. God clearly informs Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” God’s instr...

 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”                             I Thessalonians 5:18  What are your thoughts when you read that verse? Are you thinking,  Oh, no! Please, not the “give thanks in all circumstances” passage . I get why you might think that. The convulsions of chaos, war, and moral depravity afflicting our world feed fear rather than thanksgiving. Your circumstances may contribute to that as well. Financial stress, physical illness, and relational conflict pose a constant challenge to those words Paul penned to the Thessalonians. Give thanks in ALL circumstances. Really? We might hope the Greek provides some loophole in this exhortation and the ‘all’ doesn’t actually mean all. Sorry, but the Greek language offers no such out. All means all. So how do we obey such a radical and challenging exhortation? We look to Jesus. This mo...