RUMINATIONS OF A REVEREND

“ One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple .”              Psalm 27:4 My wife and I recently took in the sights, sounds, and smells of fall at Itasca State Park. I’ve grown to look forward to this fall activity, though there are years it doesn’t come to pass for various reasons. The trees filling the park explode with color in the fall: red, orange, pink, yellow, etc. It’s a smorgasbord for the eyes. I love it! When you behold something beautiful you sometimes get entranced by it. Have you ever witnessed a sunset that captured your attention or looked upon a mountain scene and just been in awe? Even manmade beauty can captivate us, whether it be a painting or a beautiful home or a finely crafted vehicle. Now think about David’s words in Psalm 27:...

Have you ever been angry with God? I have– on more than one occasion.  When I was fresh out of seminary, I had grandiose visions of how I would reach the world for Jesus Christ. I would grow a church to thousands of people who would be reaching friends and family for Jesus on a regular basis. I received my first call to a church in Bismarck, ND, and I began planning how I would grow that church. The church had sold some of their property just before they extended a call to me and I was a little disappointed. I figured we would need that property for the growth we would experience. When I arrived, the church was averaging around 55-60 on Sunday mornings. Over the next 6 years I prayed, provided outreach events, enhanced the Sunday morning worship, modified the church interior, discipled men in the church, added programs, and by the time I left, I had managed to grow the church to about 35-40 (and, no, I didn’t forget to add a zero to those numbers). I was angry. I was trying ...

As I read my devotions this morning in 2 Samuel 11, something caught my attention that I hadn’t noticed before (at least I don’t remember noticing it before). Many are familiar with this tragic story of David and Bathsheba. And when we read it, we tend to focus on a few main characters. They consume our attention. There is David who committed adultery with Bathsheba, there is Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband), there is of course Bathsheba herself, and then there is Joab who carries out David’s plot. But with our attention so fixed on these characters, we miss a key player. I’m not talking about the messenger sent by David or the Ammonites who actually fire the arrows that kill Uriah. I’m talking about “the servants of David among the people.” These men are mentioned in verses 17 and 24. These verses inform us that these men died as a result of carrying out David's plot to kill Uriah. It wasn’t only Uriah who died. After Joab carries out David’s plot, he sends a messenger back to Davi...

Slave : a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them ( https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/slave ). Doulos (Greek): Slave. “Hence we have a service which is not a matter of choice for the one who renders it, which he has to perform whether he likes or not, because he is subject as a slave to an alien will, to the will of his owner.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament) Slave and slavery are terms rightly repulsive to our ears. The horror of slavery past and the sad reality in parts of the world of slavery present sickens us. No human has the right to “own” another human. In our country today, we laud the principles of liberty, freedom, and equality (though we don’t always exercise those principles as effectively as needed). Slavery in the first century was a prevalent reality. Some estimate that 1 in every 5 people in the Roman Empire were slaves. And slaves were disdained by most. Many Rabbis considered calling someone a slave...

Do you remember as a child wishing everyday was Christmas? You loved opening up all the presents and seeing what toys you got and wished everyday was like that. Well maybe everyday is, but we are just missing it. Recently I watched a video titled “Christmas Presents” produced by Forest Hills church in Charlotte, NC. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSxPWpLPN7A It depicts a man waking up and unwrapping all the wonderful gifts that we usually just take for granted: life, family, electricity, clean water, food, etc.  In a country so blessed as ours we can often take for granted the vast number of blessings we have been given. If you are able to read this you have an ability that 774 million adults in the world don’t have. If you are reading this through your internet connection, you have something more than half the world’s population doesn’t have. And if you are able to drink a clean glass of water while you read this, then you have something that...

Growing up, my family and I would routinely venture out on the mammoth waters of Lake Erie. We only lived about a half an hour from the lake, and mom and dad owned a 21 foot Grady White fiberglass boat that they kept docked at a lake marina. On the weekends, if the weather was nice, we would head out for a lake adventure. By Friday, we would start our preparations. The goal was to be packed and ready to take off early in the morning. Mom would pack our lunch, Dad would make sure we had the fishing gear ready, and my brother and I would help haul everything to the vehicle. The next morning we would make a final check of our supplies and head out. We’d park the car near our dock and haul the supplies down the stairs to our boat. I worked eagerly, because I knew the sooner we loaded the boat, the sooner we could get out fishing. But dad and mom never rushed because they knew we didn’t want to leave something behind. It would be a long trip back to shore if we did. After ever...

March madness begins this week and, if it starts out like previous tournaments, there will be a few blowouts in the first round. Whenever you watch such a game, you can almost pinpoint the time in the game where the losing team gives up hope of winning and accepts defeat. In high school games you’ll often notice the coach start pulling his starters and giving his backup players an opportunity for game experience. The coach and team have accepted the fact that they will lose and simply want to get it over with. However, on rare occasions, a team will still play as if they have a chance to win when in reality they don’t. I remember a basketball game where the losing team was down by about ten points with under ten seconds to play and they were still trying to pull off the win. They kept fouling and essentially making the deficit greater to overcome. But they did not want to accept that they were going to lose the game until the final buzzer sounded. I wonder if that’s how Satan ...