Fear is not all-powerful

God has prepared us for this very thing-Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! It's cold here in the South today. Nothing like what my friends in the North and Midwest experience, but when the temperature is below freezing for most of a week, these California-born fingers struggle to move. I can't sit close… Continue reading Fear is not all-powerful

O ye Heights of Heav’n

Third Sunday of Advent The King of Glory will return to reign over His garden Kingdom. In the beginning, God made a garden. Yahweh Elohim (יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים) caused every tree that is pleasant to look at and filled with healthy food to spring up out of the newly created earth. In the middle of the… Continue reading O ye Heights of Heav’n

The Limits of Human Wisdom

War, Job, and the presence of God Along with much of the West, I was horrified by the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7. After being there more than 30 years ago, Israel captured my heart in a way few places can. The holiness of the place is unmistakable with so much of… Continue reading The Limits of Human Wisdom

גְּמַר חֲתִימָה טוֹבָה

9-25-23 Yom Kippur (G'mar chatimah tovah) "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites” Leviticus 16:34 Today is Yom Kippur, the most holy day of the Jewish calendar. It is the day named Atonement by the Lord Himself, set… Continue reading גְּמַר חֲתִימָה טוֹבָה

When the pastor goes off script

It's fire. https://www.youtube.com/live/_8VjAwfZeNg?feature=shared

4’33

Lamentations 3:25-28 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is… Continue reading 4’33

Speaking clearly

Random thoughts from a thinker Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking… Continue reading Speaking clearly

In the boat.

Can you lose your salvation? What’s a parent to do? Can you lose your salvation? It’s a theological question for scholars and a source of fear for some believers. Others worry, not for their own salvation, but for the eternal future of someone they love. Historically, Calvinists, who teach a limited atonement believe that, if… Continue reading In the boat.

Come.

Psalm 27: 4 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. When Trouble Comes King David was adept at finding… Continue reading Come.

Beloved: Reflection 5

Community Read Hebrews 10: 19-25 and Acts 2, especially verses 42-47 Pray that the Lord will open your mind and heart to hear His voice. How do we love Jesus through community? There's a Greek word, κοινωνία (koinōnia) that brings together multiple aspects of fellowship. While "fellowship" is a delightful word, American English cannot fully… Continue reading Beloved: Reflection 5