Friends,
Welcome back!
I hope you are challenged by this post.
Please continue to change your world.
Bob
Link to a previous post on my blog.
Bible Study: Have you ever wanted to do something so much that nothing could stop you?
“Two women washed Jesus feet with their hair, an ultimate sign of submission, respect and thankfulness. Taking his filth away and making themselves dirty and smelly and offensive. …
One woman saw in Jesus forgiveness for her sins. The other wanted to anoint Messiah before his sacrificial death.”
Links to things I’ve read recently.
When You Can’t Say, “I’m Sorry”: Finding Freedom from Regret
“Grief carries more emotions than sadness. I lost my mother when I was a teenager. Not the best season for a mother-daughter relationship. After she died, I replayed a particularly selfish moment in my mind and wished I could go back and redo it. But I couldn’t.
Grief and regret etched the face of the woman standing before me. She wanted to know what to do with the regret she felt for not being a better wife to her deceased husband. I assured her that I could empathize with her and that her feelings were normal. But we don’t want to live stuck in regret. And God doesn’t want us to stay there either.”
What My Grandparents Taught Me About Pastoral Ministry
“When I was in high school, and early on during the summers in college, I spent my days working at a local pharmacy. I got a one-hour lunch break, and I ended up going almost every day to lunch at my favorite place: Granny and PawPaw’s house. …
But looking back, I realize the Lord was doing more than I understood. Having now sat beside countless hospital beds and in living rooms with families walking through suffering, I can see how those lunches prepared me for ministry in ways I didn’t yet understand. My grandparents taught me how to slow down, listen, and simply be present with people.”
You Become What You Listen To; You Are Formed By What You Read
“What we lose when we trade books for podcasts.”
Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery: The Unexpected, Don’t-Miss Detail
“Why is this unexpected bit of information here in verse 9? “But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones.” …
Why did the older men go first? I know that the older I get, the more aware I am of my sins, whether in thought, word, or deed. And the sheer number of years that I’ve lived means that I’ve had more time to sin. But God’s gift to us as we grow older and hopefully wiser in terms of spiritual maturity, is that he’s also made us more aware of our need for a Savior, and more grateful for Jesus with each passing day. Like Paul, I often feel like the “chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15) ready with him to exclaim, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24)”
Your Life Will Slip Through Your Fingers
“The process of aging that the Lord takes us through is often not sudden, but slow. Death by a thousand cuts. One way or another, the things that felt so permanent in this life will be exposed for what they are: “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
You will one day start to attend more funerals than weddings. People you laughed with, cried with, fought with, and made up with for decades will be gone, just like that. The running tally will get higher, and every single one will remind you of your own mortality even as you grieve.”
We Don’t Always Know Where God Is Working
“We have numerous incidents in the Bible of waiting on God while it seemed nothing was happening. Many times, the psalmists asked “How long?” when it seemed like God wasn’t moving on their behalf. Abraham was promised a son twenty-five years before he received Isaac. David was anointed king about fifteen years before actually becoming king and spent much of that time running for his life. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt 400 years before Moses came. There were another 400 years between the Old and New Testaments where, as far as is recorded in the Bible, there was no prophetic word from God. Yet we know God was at work because He always has a remnant of His people. Simeon and Anna, Zachariah and Elisabeth, Mary and Joseph were all faithful believers at the end of that period.”
Joseph, Daniel, and the Secret to Changing the World
“If you want to change the world, don’t bend your convictions. …
If you want to change the world, be faithful in the small things.”
Three Ways to Walk With those Who Grieve
“While no two people grieve the same way and engaging someone’s grief will always be deeply personal, here are three ways I encouraged these friends as they step into the space of walking with friends facing loss:
- A Gentle Greeting …
- Presence Over Words …
- Right Perspectives Take Time“
If the Church Did Its Job, Would the Parachurch Exist?
“The question isn’t whether the church should replace the parachurch but whether God’s people will faithfully build every institution needed to accomplish his will.”
17 Exhortations For Christian Citizens
“May I suggest two main things: Remember who is in control and respond with biblical wisdom. The latter may call for unfashionably low volume, or even (believe it or not) silence. Chaos has all the agents it needs; give calm a chance. And pray for peace.”
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