The Most Difficult Thing To Share

As I was lying in bed this morning, I recalled a conversation from years ago. I was speaking with a very good friend, a man who had endured many hard times but had always trusted the Lord. We shared stories of trials that seemed hopeless in that moment, until God showed up and made a way where there had seemed to be no way. We both concluded that God was always faithful, even though we did not...

The Furnace

I was a little unsure, but I was ready to try and start a daily blog; that was almost two weeks ago. Life seemed to come at me pretty hard the past few weeks, and I really wasn't sure why. I had started studying the lives of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You would think by now that I would have realized what was happening. You see, I have come to understand one undeniable truth in...

Defenseless

 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter, if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image...

Intersections

As I have gotten older, it becomes increasingly rare that life offers the simple choice of left or right. Not because the decisions themselves are that much more complicated, it is because I have a better understanding of the consequences of those decisions.  As children, we must learn the difference between right and wrong, but as we mature, it is the consequences that we will spend much...

Hitting a Wall

It never ceases to amaze me, how certain memories come back when you would least expect them to. Now I would have thought that as Pastor Dave spoke about "hitting a wall" on Sunday morning, that one of my more "recent" events would have come to mind. But instead, I found myself thinking back to something that happened back when I was eighteen years old. It was the spring semester of 1991,...

Shadows or Substance

T.S. Eliot once said that "good writers borrow, great writers steal." Now, I may not yet be a great writer, but I do think that I understand his statement. Let's say that you gathered together a dozen painters, and you placed them all on the same hilltop one evening. You supplied them all with the same paints, brushes, and canvas; and you told them to paint the sunset as they all faced to the West....