Reflections

I was struck by a few verses in Psalm 95 on Wednesday morning. Psalm 95:6-9 reads this way: Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you...

Every now and then, I ponder how best to pray. I have read articles and even a few books about how to pray. One of the lessons that has stuck out is the wisdom of praying Scripture or praying based on Scripture. At times, I have scratched my head about how to do that....

A few different things from Otis Garrison's message on Sunday have been rumbling around in my head this week. One thing, in particular, was Otis' statement about followers of Jesus being God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). It was in the forefront of my mind on...

   Kerri and I woke up to the best kind of news you could wake up to: the birth of a grandchild. Our son, Josh, and his wife, Olivia welcomed Violette just before 5:00 this morning. That joyous news put Psalm 127:3 in front of me. The verse reads: Behold, children are...

Given that today is the National Day of Prayer, the words of 1 Timothy 2:1-2 bubbled up for me. They read: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, (2) for kings and all who are in high positions,...

I have had some extra time to read as part of the recovery process. Earlier this week I finished Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson. God has used the book as both a comfort and a challenge to help me wrestle...

The last few days have been very different than I would have thought. Though I have felt rattled, I have also been comforted by a family memory that took me to the words of Job 1:21 and the goodness of God’s sovereign care and provision. Let me start with the words of...

For the last several years, when I think about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the words of 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 come to mind quickly. The verses read: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our...

I have reached the point in my Bible reading plan of being in the Prophets. At a 30,000-foot level, I always come away from those books with the sense that as people, we are accomplished at sin. History shows that we keep getting more accomplished at sin. That is far...

I have been reading 2 Kings this week. Even if you have never read the book, the title gives away that the book is filled with stories about kings. But more than that, it is also filled with stories about the sins of kings and the people they ruled. So much so that by...

My Bible reading program had me in Proverbs this week. Since I came to Christ in high school, I have heard many people say how valuable it is to read Proverbs. I have known some people who will read through Proverbs every month. Proverbs is not the easiest of books...

My Bible reading program had me in Romans 1 on Wednesday and the words of verses 11-15 kept rumbling through my head. Verse 15 maybe was the key nugget. It reads: So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Typically, I think most of the time, we...