RUMINATIONS OF A REVEREND

How do you finish that sentence? Is it having fun or pursuing pleasure? There’s a name for that—hedonism. And there are many who would finish that sentence with the term pleasure. In a blog titled “My Life as a Hedonist,” a blogger wrote, “I am a hedonist, someone who believes the most important thing in life is the pursuit of pleasure.  I believe what drives people is pleasure.  Everything we do from binge-watching a television series to digging graves, we do to gain pleasure.” Others might say, “Truly living is finding success at work.” Climbing that corporate ladder all the way to the top and taking the company as far as it can go. Elon Musk owns six multi-billion-dollar companies and advocates for 80-hour work weeks. He tweeted in 2018, “There are way easier places to work, but nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.” He is known for his 100+ hours a week of work and often sleeping at his office instead of going home. A person could reasonably assume that for E...

I was visiting with my dad this morning, who will turn 82 in about six weeks, and our conversation veered down memory lane (that’s not uncommon when we talk). He reminisced about the first TV that came to their neighborhood. He couldn’t remember the year, but said he wasn’t in school yet, so maybe he was four or five. The golden age of television began in the 50s when TV ownership in the US went from only 9% of households in 1951 to around half in 1955. If Dad was five when his neighbor first plugged in his TV, then the year would have been 1948. That early adopter invited the neighborhood over to experience this new technology. Twenty people, including my dad, gathered in a small living room and were instantly transfixed by this box with a 10-inch screen (according to dad) emitting sound and moving images received from a broadcast signal. Revolutionary! It would be three more years before my dad’s parents would purchase their own TV, but societal change had begun. My conversation wi...

  14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. 15 Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. Isaiah 59:14-15   Why has justice turned back? Why does righteousness stand far away? Because “truth has stumbled in the public squares.” That phrase so fittingly describes a large part of our culture today. A few years ago, I was getting a physical for a life insurance policy and the nurse asked me if I was pregnant. She clarified that it was a question she was required to ask. Required because now we are supposed to believe that men can get pregnant.   I don’t intend to plunge fully into the issue of transgenderism, but I mention the incident to illustrate my point. Truth has stumbled in the public squares. The distinction between men and women had been understood and accepted for th...

          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...

In the ’60s, the Beatles claimed “All you need is love” and the hippie generation sought to live that out. However, many found that answer wanting and looked for more as depicted in the recent movie “The Jesus Revolution.” The '80s worked out the final vestiges of the cold war, resulting in the collapse of the Berlin Wall and what many believed was a new era of world peace. As technology advanced and moved society forward, scientific truth became the answer to all humanity’s woes. The '90s birthed a new era of informational exchange exponentially accelerating the rate at which the pool of human knowledge expanded as well as the rate lies could be spread. Facts and fiction could now be shared with a few strokes on a keyboard in an email. The dawn of a new millennium ushered in unprecedented connections through social media and smartphones. Now so-called truth experts could peddle their claimed knowledge through multiple platforms around the world. In our current era, however, tr...

 Did you know that God laughs? That’s not something we think about often. You may have never thought about God laughing. Many hold this image of a stoic God that never even smiles let alone laughs. And you think that would be the case, right? I mean the challenges of this world are far too serious to laugh about. We have violent crime on the rise, inflation woes, immorality not merely accepted but applauded, people and institutions actively opposing the teachings of God’s word, and the list goes on. The mess of this world is no laughing matter so most of us never think of God laughing. But God Himself, in His word, tells us that He does indeed laugh.   So, what would God be laughing about? What would God find so humorous that He bursts into laughter? It’s probably not what you would laugh about. In fact, what God laughs about might be giving you ulcers right now. What makes God laugh? We find the answer in Psalm 2 verses 1-4. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plo...

 How can you make this New Year more than just another year?   New Year’s Eve fosters fond memories for me every year. Growing up, my family would gather friends that had three sons of their own to ring in the New Year together. We alternated which house would host the event and all five of us boys would have blast. I remember eagerly waiting for my turn to play pong on the computer. Odd as it may seem, being able to control a digital line on a screen with a paddle controller mesmerized me. We would play on the Macintosh computer, outside in the snow, and games like operation. Then we snuck into the mysterious a crawl space where we would go and play. It was only four feet high but there were a couple of lights and some toys. The perfect kids’ hang out—parents wouldn’t easily fit!   Not a New Year’s Eve goes by without me reflecting on those childhood memories. Yet with all the hoopla and expectation that went into celebrating the New Year, there never seemed much new...

You’ve asked that question countless times, I’m sure. You’re in the store and can’t find your spouse, child, or friend so you call out, “Where are you?” You’re getting picked up by someone who’s fifteen minutes late so you call and ask “Where are you?” You get a call from a friend and the background noise nearly drowns out their voice and you ask, “Where are you?”   You and I have asked that question numerous times over the years. It reveals our limited knowledge. We don’t know where someone is and want to find out for whatever reason. The question makes perfect sense coming from the mouth of humans such as ourselves. But in Genesis 3:9 it comes from the mouth of an all-knowing God and seems quite strange.   The setting is the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned by eating fruit from the tree that God had told them not to eat. They succumbed to the serpent’s temptation, rebelling against God’s authority. They knew it was wrong because the moment they heard God walking ...