September 2019 Blog Posts (10)

A few Sundays ago, my pastor preached on Psalm 73, reminding me that I had also preached on that Psalm – several times in fact. It is the age-old conflict of the prosperity of the wicked vs. the suffering of the righteous, and the Psalmist began by asking tough questions. Make no mistake, the wicked do prosper, and our questions make little difference to them. But one must quickly get past the questions to Psalm 73:16-17, “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me –…

Praying Hands  Albrecht Durer 

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalm 20:7 NIV

     When you are in distress, I am your…

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 NLT

     See My smile in star-shine marvel and sunlight…

Larry (not his real name) lived across the street during high school. We played on the golf team together, but Larry was a much better golfer. After I trusted Christ, I share the good news with Larry. He called me soon afterward and said, “Mark, I placed my faith in Christ and am so excited. Can I see you?”

I couldn’t wait to see Larry. I lived off campus. Larry knocked on my door, and we talked awhile. “Let’s go to a park and share our faith,” Larry said. “Sounds like a great idea,”…

Guard me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 17:8 NLT

     Incredibly, I take a personal interest in you. Believe it or not, you are a gleam in your Heavenly Father’s eyes! The sun and moon and brightest stars do not bring Me as much delight as caring for you.

     My unfailing love, undeserved mercy, and kind…

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?

How long will my enemy have…

It’s humbling to discover you’re not indispensable. This unpleasant experience happened to me a few months ago when I had to go on medical leave from work.

The whole thing was unimaginable. Within days I went from having a full-time job I loved to no longer even having a workable scan key to get me into the building.

Most humbling of all was having to encounter the painful Myth of Indispensability. Put simply, this myth says people can’t survive without us. We’re irreplaceable…