Blog
As I look out at our small orchard of fig, cherry, apple, nectarine, and peach trees in our front yard, I can see the first buds of fruit forming. Each tree has a different process of maturation and fruit bearing. The first appearance of a coming harvest is now taking...
Years ago, on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, I had a window seat as we flew over the Pacific Northwest. As we crossed Springfield, Oregon, a place where our family once lived, I looked down and could see familiar landmarks—the streets, parks, shopping malls,...
A question surfaced in Paul’s writings: Who can be saved? I’ve heard several podcasts and interviews this year discussing Israel, her relationship with the Church, and her place in modern history. In one discussion on social media, there was a halting comment...
The Spirit has placed gifts in the Church not just for our edification and healing. Some have a different purpose. One of the gifts of the Spirit is the ability to call out an error that can lead a Church to veer off the path of truth and embrace an error. When Paul...
In a marriage, we don’t have a partner. We have a husband or wife—a man and woman united in a unique expression of oneness with God. While a husband and wife may partner together in the responsibilities of this life, it is their bond of marriage, not the tasks they...
Some sins are being allowed, even celebrated in the Church. These sins exist because we have abandoned the restraints of Scripture and allowed sin to remain unchallenged. Paul wrote about our response to these sins, "So, don't make judgments about anyone ahead of...
When we get down to it, "The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God" (I Corinthians 1:18). When Paul wrote those words, he did so as a very learned man. However, as he...
Reading someone's final words can sum up what they said and what is essential for the reader to take to heart. Many times, these final words contain a warning. They are exclamation points attached to what someone said, just like it was with Paul's closing words in the...
When I was a young patrol officer, I almost shot a man. I was working in a two-man unit during a midnight shift. We stopped a vehicle that drove past us at high rate of speed in violation of the posted speed limit. So, we pulled in behind the vehicle and initiated a...
Today, on this Mother’s Day of 2025, I am remembering my mother. She passed away in 2010. As a young girl, she experienced the pain of her parent’s divorce in a day when such things were frowned upon. She grew up in the deep South. She only had one pair of shoes...
It has become popular in some circles of the Church to dismiss the current expression of the nation of Israel, thinking its national goals have separated it from God. If that were the case, all of us would be separated from God because none of us are perfect, and no...
We need to be careful accepting the definitions provided by some theologians of what they have defined as only a metaphor. Unless we are careful about accepting all we have been taught to believe, we will accept a logical understanding for things not meant to be...
One section of Scripture has changed how I interpret the results of our faith. Faith is not an intellectual choice. It is a spiritual act - a seed that contains miraculous potential. It can release profound miracles that no human intellect can comprehend or create. It...
When the Lord created us, He placed in our hearts an instinct to know what is right or wrong. Paul wrote about people who live a life in violation of God’s original creation, he described them this way, “They began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a...
There will be times when some of those who we thought would support us, will turn their backs on us. One day we are loved and supported and the next day we are held at arms distance and rejected. Some of those attacks will go further than just a disagreement. People...