John 9: 1-17, 28-41 A traveler was found by a U.S. Customs official to be carrying a half-gallon bottle from Mexico. The official asked the man what it contained. The traveler replied, “It’s just holy water. I took it from the shrine I visited. They say it causes miracles.” The inspector was suspicious and opened…
Category: Lent
Thirsty?
John 4: 1-26 I had my recent stay in the hospital after emergency hernia surgery. By virtue of my condition and ongoing examinations by a few nurses and doctors, I was reminded of a story of a man suffering from an irritating headache. He went to a local doctor for some help. The receptionist at…
Only One Appropriate Reaction
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-24 An old Chinese proverb goes like this: If you wish to be happy for one hour, get intoxicated. If you wish to be happy for three days, get married. If you wish to be happy for eight days, kill your pig and eat it. If you wish to be happy forever,…
They Deserve It!
Luke 13: 1-9 They came to Jesus and, in effect, asked him, “Did you see what Pilate did?” Jesus discerned what they said to really mean those Galileans were bad people. A woman and her grandmother – a very forgiving and religious soul – were sitting on their porch discussing a member of the family….
A Dead End?
Luke 13: 31-35 From a blogpost I wrote in February of 2015: “I’ve thought about erasing my master of divinity degree from my resume. Perhaps, by so doing, I’d look less educated, more hirable and more normal. But the thought comes to me regularly, I’ll never be normal.” That was a difficult time in our lives. We left the…
The Reality of Our Identity
Luke 4: 1-13 On this first Sunday in Lent, we’re hearing about the temptations of Jesus. An old time cowboy went with his friend to hear an evangelist in a very wild western town. The evangelist preached for an hour on the Ten Commandments. Both cowpokes listened with rapt attention. On their way home one…
Is Access Enough?
John 12: 20-26 Today, it all started with some Greek people who attended worship in Jerusalem during Passover wanted to see Jesus. I’ve been a big fan of Bob Dylan since I was in high school. I’ve seen him in concert five times. The most recent time was two years ago with our son in…
Reflections on the Third Sunday
John 2: 13-22 The temple was not meant to be a marketplace. The religious asked him what authority Jesus had to fashion a whip from cords and drive the sheep and cattle out of the temple and pour the coins of the money changers onto the ground and overturned their tables. He told them, “Destroy…
Crosses and Costs
Mark 8: 31-38 A husband says to his wife, “I don’t want to brag, but here it is February, and I’ve kept every one of my New Year’s resolutions. I’ve kept them in a manila folder in the back of my desk.” Some of us make resolutions like one man said to his friend, “There’s…
Flee & Pursue
In my personal devotions, Bible reading, theological study and just listening to other preachers over coffee or through podcasts across the Internet, I’ve noticed many references to the two epistles directed to Timothy from Paul. I noticed this as a pattern so I was beginning to trust that God was trying to direct me to…
Psalm 102 in The Message 