Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. —Mark 15:24 (NLT) Crucifixion ranks right up there on the short list of the most painful and torturous deaths ever devised. In the first century, the cross meant death . . . but not just any death. It meant the most hideous, anguished death imaginable. Each time […]
Read MoreTag Archives: Mark
Tragedy or Triumph?
They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it.” —Mark 15:1–2 (NLT) Most Christians have never made a serious study of what transpired immediately before Jesus’ crucifixion. We tend to jump from Gethsemane to […]
Read MoreDenials
“Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” —Mark 14:30–31 (NLT) I’ve often said that Peter suffered from “foot-in-mouth” disease. He was given to boasting and overstatement because […]
Read MoreWatch and Pray
“Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” —Mark 14:37–38 (NLT) Jesus didn’t just bow once for a brief prayer in the garden and then go out to […]
Read MoreAnguish in the Garden
Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” —Mark 14:27–28 (NLT) Judging from the ancient olive grove that can […]
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.
Read MoreInsight
Are you ready for a surprise? You blink twenty-five times every minute. Each blink takes you about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you take a ten-hour automobile trip, averaging forty miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with your eyes closed. I know a fact far more surprising than that. Some people go through life with their eyes closed.
Read MoreFamine
The word hangs like an awful omen in our heads. Mentally, we picture a brutal, grotesque image. Cows’ hips protrude. Babies’ eyes are hollow. Bloated stomachs growl angrily. Skin stretches across faces tight as a trampoline. The outline of the skull slowly emerges. Joints swell. Grim, despairing stares replace smiles. Hope is gone . . . life is reduced to a harsh existence as famine takes its toll.
Read MoreRoots
There’s this tree in my front yard that gives me fits several times a year. It leans. No, it never breaks or stops growing . . . it just leans. It’s attractive, deep green, nicely shaped, and annually bears fragrant blossoms. But let a good, healthy gust give it a shove—and over it goes. Like, fast. It happened today. Right now the thing is tilted on about a forty-five degree angle towards the north.
Read MoreA Quiet Place
IT IS ALMOST 10:00, MONDAY NIGHT. The children are snoozing upstairs. Aside from a few outside noises—a passing car . . . a barking dog . . . a few, faint voices in the distance—all’s quiet on the home front. That wonderful, much-needed presence has again come for a visit—quietness. I recall when our children were little, how valuable times of silence were to both Cynthia and me.
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