MR PIGS . . . MR NOT PIGS . . . OSAR . . . CM PENZ . . . LIB . . . MR PIGS. Okay, give it a whirl. Read all those words again and translate. If you can—I can tell you what part of the country you’re from. Your speech will betray you . . . it does every time. A couple of Sundays ago, I was talking with a group of visitors following a morning service. Several were from different sections of our nation.
Read MoreTag Archives: Colossians
Dress Your Dreams in Denim
Some collegians think manual labor is the president of Mexico . . . until they graduate. Suddenly, the light dawns. Reality frowns. And that sheltered, brainy, fair-skinned, squint-eyed scholar who has majored in medieval literature and minored in Latin comes of age. He experiences a strange sensation deep within his abdomen two weeks after framing his diploma. Hunger. Remarkable motivation accompanies this feeling.
Read MoreA Worthy Game Plan
AN OLD YEAR HAS COMPLETED ITS COURSE. A new year is smiling at us, with twelve months of the unknown. I feel like we’re sitting on the beach, an entire ocean of possibilities, including both sun-drenched days and a few storms with howling winds and giant waves, stretched out across the uncharted waters. If you and I let ourselves, we could become so afraid of the potential dangers that we would miss the adventure.
Read MoreLiving the Truth
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you . . . . Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:12–13, 17)
Read MoreLiving Life to the Fullest
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. (Colossians 4:5–6) Our desire, Father, is to be fully present—all there—wherever we are. We want to live to the hilt every situation we believe to be Your will.
Read MoreDoing vs. Being
MY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS had its thirtieth anniversary reunion many summers ago. Since I could not attend, I decided to blow the dust off my yearbook and stroll down nostalgia lane. I remembered a project we seniors were given before the yearbook went to press back in ’52. We were asked to think about the next twenty years and answer, “What do I want to do?”
Read MoreFour Seasonal Dangers and Strategies
I’ve been giving a lot of thought these days to the subject of God’s will. While engaged in a study of that issue recently, I came across a term we rarely use or read these days: providence. The root meaning of providence is “foresight . . . to see in advance” or “to provide for.” But those definitions could leave us with too shallow an understanding. Providence contains far more than a passive reference to God’s foreknowledge.
Read MoreGuiding Grace
In his letter to the Romans, Paul goes into great detail regarding the issue of personal freedom—greater detail than almost anywhere else in his writings. In the fourteenth chapter, for example, he sets forth four very practical guidelines that can be followed by all who are serious about releasing others in grace.
Read MoreCracks in the Wall
The longer I live the less I know for sure. That sounds like 50% heresy . . . but it’s 100% honesty. In my younger years I had a lot more answers than I do now. Things were absolutely black and white, right or wrong, yes or no, in or out, but a lot of that is beginning to change. The more I travel and read and wrestle and think the less simplistic things seem.
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