Extreme church, exceeding righteousness, the surpassing value of knowing Him. I attended a photography seminar a few years ago and got an idea for promoting senior portraits that I felt communicated an important message to potential customers: “It’s Your Image . . . Don’t Settle.” Your high school senior portrait…
I’m a survivor. I’m a cancer survivor, four and a half years and counting. I’m also a divorce survivor, not counting, but it was a long time ago. I’ve had a variety of jobs, some at which I was successful, some at which I failed, and some that more or…
Trish and I have two beautiful Appaloosa horses. Rocky and Domino are intelligent, strong, and almost trained. It is not a good idea for people with little knowledge of horse training to take on training an untrained horse, much less two. We intended to work with them some when they…
Another of my friends from high school passed away this week. It’s hard to believe someone so young could be gone. Okay, so we aren’t so young anymore; but still, we aren’t all that old either. Anyway, Diane is with the Lord she loved and served all her life, even…
If our righteousness is to exceed that of the Pharisees, how does that affect the way we “do church?” Or does it? What about ministry and evangelism and discipleship? A friend of mine, J. Guy Muse, wrote an interesting blog recently that got me thinking. Guy’s recent post dealt with…
Have you ever wondered what it means to be more righteous than the Pharisees? Have you ever wondered what a Pharisee is? The Pharisees were a sect of ancient Judaism. The crash course explanation would go something like this. The rising Babylonian empire had conquered Judea and taken most of…
To be happy. It’s something we all want. The United States’ Declaration of Independence asserts that our Creator has endowed us with the right to pursue happiness. One of the first Christian books I ever read, beside the Bible, was Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life. A…
Paul said it. Many have tried to follow his example. “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Usually, I’ve heard that applied by someone saying that was all they were going to preach. Or, a salvation message would be worked into every sermon they…
I’m not sure where it’s coming from. It’s nothing new for a young person to reject their upbringing when he/she goes off to college. However, in the past, by my observation, young people would adopt a worldly lifestyle. Yet, they still considered themselves “Christian.” They would drop out of church….
A young lady came in and stopped in front of a display near the entrance. In the middle of a grouping of plaques, Psalm 23, was printed in elegant calligraphy on pale green parchment-style paper, with a beautiful, ornate frame. She stood there several minutes, then left. She returned a…
