Battles

Lately, some people have asked about what my faith looks like and how it affects the way I live my life. That is a great question, and one I have been thinking about for some time myself. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my faith rests in the hope I find in Jesus. By seeking the wisdom of God through Scripture, I seek to serve my King, Jesus, in the best way I can. Understanding that I start as a sinner condemned to destruction because of my sin is a central part of my faith in the living God. Next, I believe that Jesus is the one who deals with my sin through His life, death on the cross, and resurrection. For me, Jesus is life, and to reject Jesus means I have no hope. With that confession of faith established, my faith is not some pie-in-the-sky idea but a practical way to live each day. I am not a theologian but a historian, which means my approach to thinking about faith originates in a different place, though I hope it leads me to the same destination. I have ...

  The Blessing Isaiah 61:9 Everyone in all nations will know the children of my people, and their children will be known among the nations. Anyone who sees them will know that they are people the Lord has blessed.” It has been more then fifty years since I became a qualified manual earth mover operator and I can state with complete honesty that I hated digging footers. Most people don’t know what a footer is because it is buried at the very bottom of a house but it is the starting point for the foundation of any house or building. Once a footer is in place no one will ever see it unless the house is in trouble or it is being torn down. But footers are one of the most important parts of the house. It is what everything else sits on and it needs to be done right or it will put the rest of the house in jeopardy. Footers are not sexy and no one speaks about how wonderful their footers look. To dig footers takes hard work and they cannot be done in a lazy or sloppy fashion becau...

  Politics is not life and when we act like it does we will always end up in trouble. Be respectful and caring to those who you disagree with on politics. Today I spent some time speaking with someone who thought that the answer to our political problems was the death of the wrong kind of people. This kind of thinking is so scary. And if people knew history that way of thinking should be the last thing people want. The same guillotine that you use to get rid of you enemies can be the same one used on you. Just ask Maximilien Robespierre who lead the Great Terror during the French Revolution. Lets treat each other with kindness. Just because we disagree on politics does not make each other enemies.  

  Priest of the Lord Isaiah 61:6 You will be called priests of the Lord; you will be named the servants of our God. You will have riches from all the nations on earth, and you will take pride in them. A few years ago a study was done that revealed a truth about human nature that Jesus long ago explained in The Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter five verse thirty-seven Jesus tells us to just say yes or no and He adds that any more then that is from the enemy of our souls. This study reveals that a basic part of a good society is that people trust each other. When people trust each other they are more willing to take risk and to build bigger and better projects. On the opposite side is the problem of low trust societies. In places where people feel corruption and lawlessness rule people are much less likely to take risks. This trust-risk factor is really all about human nature and how we as people understand something very basic about the universe. I myself have learned...

  The Joy of the Lord Isaiah 61:3 He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad and to help the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow, and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness, trees planted by the Lord to show his greatness. A few days ago I was doing my daily Bible reading when a came across Matthew chapter thirteen verse fifty two which caused we to stop and think about how I see God. The verse talks about a teacher who understands the kingdom of God. The illustration speaks about a man who brings things out of his house both old and new. When I read that it struck me in a new way because of our raising of chickens and turkeys. We have a shed filled with equipment that we bring out and use over the course of a year. Some things are used only a few times a year but other things come and go out of the shed on a regular basis...

  God at Work Isaiah 61:2 He has sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness and the time when our God will punish evil people. My sister-in-law used to do makeup for the government. When government agencies would run disaster drills they would hire a group of people to come to make people look like they had suffered some kind of injury. From the pictures I have seen of these events they looked very real. Medical personal and doctors would have to come and assess what was wrong and then describe the process of dealing with the injury. Even though none of it was real, it did help people work through procedures and systems to prepare people for the real thing if it ever occurred. I like the idea that institutions understand that being prepared for bad things that can happen is a good idea. For people of faith this is something that we should know about because we have a God who is always at work helping us learn about and work through the problems and iss...