Grandparents. What amazing gifts from God. Generation after generation He provides a fresh set of them . . . an ever-present counterculture in our busy world. Lest everyone else get so involved they no longer stop to smell the flowers or watch tiny ants hard at work, these special adults are deposited into our lifestyle account. They’ve made enough errors to understand that perfectionism is a harsh taskmaster and that self-imposed guilt is a hardened killer.
Read MoreTag Archives: Psalms
Grandparenting, Part One
It’s bad enough that, until recently, Webster omitted “parenting” in his dictionary . . . but continuing to disregard “grandparenting” is somewhere between incompetent and inexcusable! Okay, okay, so it isn’t an official word. So it lacks sufficient roots in Anglo-Saxon linguistic lore to merit a position in the ranks of Webster’s major reference work.
Read MoreBeing Real, Part Two
Yesterday I told you about Dave Cowens, an NBA star who disappeared one day on a quest for solitude and meaning. I noted that to “find yourself” requires that you take time to look. And it’s essential if you want to be a whole person. The word is real. It takes time and it usually hurts. The Velveteen Rabbit is a classy book for children with a message for adults.
Read MoreLetters of Reference
September 12, AD 61—Dear Paul: We are considering a man to serve as a manager in the copper plant of our growing company, Corinthian Chariots, Inc. We are an aggressive, innovative firm with plans for expansion into major metropolitan regions like Rome, Athens, Antioch, and Jerusalem. We are looking for future employees who would fit into a visionary business like ours.
Read MoreWorkaholics
Strange creatures roam the land these days. Being efficient, diligent, and productive, they are remarkably impressive . . . but beneath the surface they are suffering from a miserable malady. Compulsively driven with an obsessive desire to achieve, these creatures give themselves to labor like alcoholics give themselves to booze. Workaholics. You will find them in every imaginable occupation, and unfortunately, they are usually successful.
Read MoreThe Ghost of Ephraim, Part One
Psalm 78 is a hymn of history. Being a Maskil psalm, it is designed to instruct those who ponder its message. The opening words command us to listen . . . to incline our ears to what the composer, Asaph, has to say. Immediately we realize that he is recounting the unhappy days of disobedience which characterized the Jews during their rebellion and wandering.
Read MoreMiscommunication, Part One
“Don’t garble the message!” If I heard that once during Marine boot camp, I must’ve heard it four dozen times. Again and again, our outfit was warned against hearing one thing, then passing on a slightly different version. You know, changing the message by altering the meaning a tad. It’s so easy to do, isn’t it? Especially when it’s filtered through several minds, then pushed through each mouth.
Read MoreThe Cry from a Cave
The Cave of Adullam was no Holiday Inn. It was a wicked refugee camp . . . a dark vault on the side of a cliff that reached deeply into a hill. Huddled in this clammy cavern were 400 losers—a mob of miserable humanity. They came from all over and wound up all together. Listen to the account: Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered . . . . There were about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:2)
Read MorePraise at All Times
Psalm 149 encourages the people of God to praise Him at all times, regardless of circumstances. In times of blessing, praise Him! In times of suffering, praise Him! In times of warfare, praise Him! When we come to that enviable place in our Christian experience that we can honestly say, “Praise the Lord!” in every situation—and genuinely mean it—we will have assimilated the full thrust of this magnificent hymn of praise—and all the songs in Scripture.
Read MoreIn Times of Warfare
Psalm 149 is not only a call to praise the Lord in times of blessing, and encouragement to praise Him in times of suffering, it’s also a call to arms. Praise the Lord in Times of Warfare: Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, To bind their kings with chains
Read More