September 2014 Blog Posts (14)

“I know that when things don’t go well they like to blame the Presidents, and that is one of the things which Presidents are paid for.” (John F. Kennedy)

According to the Gallup Poll, President Barack Obama’s job approval rating reached its high point (67%) in January 2009, and its low point (38%) September 2^nd 2014. His most recent weekly average (September 15-21) was 43%.

Gallup historical comparisons indicate the average for U.S.…

“The Bible holds up before us ideals that are within sight of the weakest and the lowliest, and yet so high that the best and the noblest are kept with their faces turned ever upward. It carries the call of the Saviour to the remotest corners of the earth; on its pages are written the assurances of the present and our hopes for the future.” (William Jennings Bryan)

God’s manuscript convicts our conscience. With an invisible hand, God wrote the terms of His…

“Though this world with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.” (Martin Luther)

This morning, before President Obama departed for a meeting at the United Nations, he spoke concerning the initial attacks on ISIS in Syria. A coalition of five Arab nations joined the…

I’ll never forget the day I knelt in prayer beside the bed in my college dorm room and popped the important question: “Lord, do you want me to serve You full-time?”

Almost immediately, the clear answer came, “Why, of course, Jim!”

I was thrilled. The following Sunday I went to church and proudly told my friend Bob Hahn about my call to ministry.

“Bob, while I was praying yesterday, I asked God if He wanted me to serve Him in full-time ministry. He said He did!”

My…

“We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents.” (Mark Twain)

Our archenemy would love to make our life hell on earth. But when we hear the lion’s roar ringing in our ears, we can order him to get out of our face.

Struggling with sin will convince us that we need supernatural help if we’re ever going to vacate Satan’s death trap. We are a combination of opposites, a mixture of good and evil.…

Lately I’ve been thinking of an old chorus we used to sing 30 years ago in our church in Columbus, Ohio:

“Here I am, wholly available. As for me, I will serve the Lord.”

That was pretty much the entire song. But we sang it over and over, with great gusto.

The song got so much traction back then because it accurately expressed our hearts toward God. Back then most of us really were “wholly available.” Many of us were single or recently…

He walks by my house every Saturday morning on his way to worship - black slacks, white shirt, black yamaka on his head, black walking cane. His faith prevents him from driving on the Sabbath, so he walks, with a slight limp, for 22 blocks (3 miles round trip). Rain or shine, hot or cold, he walks. Lately, I’ve had bulging disks in my lower spine that create pain in the sciatic nerve of my right leg and I’ve thought of scaling back my activities, especially those that require excessive…

“Every situation—nay, every moment—is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.” (Goethe)

God will always be who He has always been. God is far more than a long ago, far away historical force that used to work in human lives. He is the God of the living, not the dead. When we are troubled, He is our present help. He does not showcase miracles in dusty museums—He is our Contemporary. Every day, we celebrate His…

 “For rich people, the sky is just an extra, a gift of nature. The poor, on the other hand, can see it as it really is: an infinite grace.” (Albert Camus)

“The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to” (Carl Sandburg)

Tonight at 9:38 p.m. ET, the full moon will mark the third consecutive month with a Supermoon. When it is closest to Earth in its orbit, the moon will appear larger and brighter than…

There is Someone who loves you more than any friend you have on Facebook.

“Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”  (Alfred, Lord Tennyson]

Born from above, we have a Friend in eternity—Elyon, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, supreme over all.

He defeats our spiritual enemies (Genesis 14:20), teaches us timeless truth (Numbers 24:16), inspires a song in the night (Psalm 7:17), fills our heart with…

Life is all about choices. Every choice has a consequence of one kind or another, either positive or negative. And sometimes the consequence is not apparent for a long time after the choice has been made.

There’s a stunning scene toward the end of the 1989 movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Both Indiana Jones and a Nazi named Walter Donovan had been in search of the Holy Grail, the legendary chalice Jesus and His disciples used in the Last Supper. Indy wants the Grail so he…

“When we lived under the U.S.S.R. we felt we were being controlled. We were told what to say. We were told what to wear. Independence was like a second life, the birth of something new. My wings spread and I started to remember poems I recited to my mother as a child.Now, I have poems of terror.”  (Ludmila Elagina; Mariupol, Ukraine; quoted in The Washington Post, August 31, 2014)

Remembering what life was like before Ukraine received its…

Amos from Tekoa a day’s journey south of Jerusalem lived in the southern kingdom of Judah. The break into two kingdoms came about post Solomon (about 933-31 BC). Amos ministered so far as we know only in the…

Is it OK to love myself?

I’m the rope in a tug of war on this issue. Here’s why:

My adulthood and new faith experience both developed at the same time as the find your inner self, please yourself, if it feels good do it, movements.  Christian culture reacted in many different ways- mostly with a mighty shove against self-aggrandizement.

1. To increase the scope of; extend.

2. To make greater in power, influence, stature, or…