Heaven
Dinner With Jesus
Are you comfortable around the downtrodden, the outcast, and the shunned? Are you okay keeping company with the societal lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, thieves, crippled, blind? Are you drawn to those by whom community elites are repulsed? If our aim is to be like Jesus, we need to become a magnet for the destitute,…
Read MoreLiving in the Real World
“Oh, get real, will ya?” Such is the retort one might hear when others believe we are living in a fantasy world, or are not seeing things in life as they really are. “You need to start living in ‘the real world.’” I have seen similar statements made against those who invest great qualities of…
Read MoreThe Out-There God
Greetings in the Lord my brothers and sisters in Christ! This week I have been pondering a question asked by a Twitter follower who wants to know why it is that so many “Christians” live as though God doesn’t exist, what many of us would call “carnal Christians.” Opinions vary as others wrestle with this…
Read MoreGiving My Mother-in-Law to Jesus
Today, we wrapped my mother-in-law in love and released her to the embrace of Jesus. Indeed, I am writing this blog posting from the Southwest Airlines terminal of Kansas City International airport on my return flight home following her memorial. One element of human life that each of us shares is that we all have…
Read MoreNo Tears in Heaven?
An old 1930s church hymn opens with the lines: No tears in heaven, no sorrows given,All will be glory in that land.There’ll be no sadness. All will be gladnessWhen we shall join that happy band. Even bluegrass singer, Eric Clapton, sang, “And I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven.” It is a sweet…
Read MoreWhat’s Up With All the Crowns?
The Bible is replete with talk of crowns, both literal and metaphorical. We see them in the Old Testament, e.g. the crown of glory… “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will deliver you with a crown of glory.” -Proverbs 4:9 A gray head is a crown of glory;It is found in…
Read MoreExcept for These Chains
“This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” (2nd Timothy 2:8b-9, NIV-1984) Six months after the fact, I can still recall a tremendously impactful time of worship with my home church wherein we observed the International Day of…
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