There’s Atmosphere and There’s Atmosfear

       Hurricanes, pandemics and their variants, fires consuming the landscape, chaotic evacuations, illegal immigration including who knows what, political division at the breaking point, religious institutions scrambling for survival…….so where is it all headed and what can we do as believers?  Of course, there will arise a series of prophets who will forecast doom and gloom…

Walking Through the Word

       On one of my conference trips to the UK, one in Yorkshire, I was encouraged to do what many Brits do and that is walk.  One group I was with had been walking the path in ten-mile sections along a path from Wales to the North Sea near Whitby.  I was there when they were preparing to finish the last fifteen miles.  Not wanting it be seen as the typical non-walking American I agreed to…

Genesis and John Have Got It Together

      Of the many things that make the Bible significant is its opening words, “In the beginning…”  Two chapters, Genesis1 and John 1 open with those words, “In the beginning God created…” and  “In the beginning was the Word…”  In both cases there is a declaration that God was already there before anything had form or substance.  The first informs us that God is creatively…

The Cross and Stress

       If we want a picture of spiritually handling stress all we have to do is see how Jesus did it.  The Cross is the major symbol, image and reality of the final stress that sums up all stress, death.  It is the logical place to start since death begins fear, the fear that saturates the self-centering lifestyle and tempts the heart’s vulnerability.  That mindset is summed up in…

Handling Stress

       Stress is a major internal feeling that requires relief.   From schools to corporations, stress programs have been undertaken to help students and workers cope when the pressures they feel demand more than they can give.  We are part of a stress-conscious public with a smattering of TV stress gurus offering a fix.  They present bodily and meditative exercises most anyone can do.  Add…

Keeping the Basics Basic

      “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God…