“When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else, you surrender your own integrity [and] become, to the extent of your surrender, less of a human being.” — Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor doesn’t suggest we not listen to others, but correctly reminds us that our standards and values are our own. Whether it is…
The Good and the Bad
Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad? — Job 2:10. Job poses the question that humankind has been asking since the earliest days. It is posed in a million different ways such as why do bad things happen to good people? Don’t we all wish we had the…
Do You Come Peaceably?
Do you come peaceably? — 1 Samuel 16:5. How do you walk into a room or an important meeting? How do you greet your neighbor or a long lost friend? Is it with open arms or is your guard up? I have met people where every encounter is a confrontation. Usually such meetings do not leave…
So Nothing May Be Lost
Gather up fragments left over, so nothing may be lost. — John 6:12. There are several references in the New Testament about fragments and crumbs. Remember the woman talking about crumbs from thy table. Now Jesus wasn’t a hoarder. From all we know he walked with a robe, sandals, and perhaps a skin filled with water.…
The Lord Is Your Shade
The Lord is your shade at your right hand. — Psalm 121:5. During my walks this summer I find myself searching for shade. There is nothing as comforting as shade on a hot sweltering day. I can only imagine how valuable shade was in the middle east over 2000 years ago. My shaded porch is my…