Grow Up

Grow Up

It does make sense; to say, “Grow up,” and expect folks to do just that.  After all, is that not what we do, physically grow up, but also doing the right things, learning the right stuff, things that teach us beyond acting, non-grownup.

In a word, Jesus was saying, “Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects.  Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity.  Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”  Include learning the One who will te

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Safety First

Safety First

From firewalls to fences, we learn to think of the importance of safety, even to the point of safety being a core value.  Oh, the sadness we’ve heard or experienced without such alertness.  In my early days, we had a safety briefing every Friday afternoon and before holidays and travel.  Safety before projects, even metal shoes before mowing.  “Be careful out there,” was at the end of each briefing.

But what we often don’t consider is the truth of this ancien

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TDY

TDY

Don’t stop now!  We have a new year before us!  Yes, temporary duty yonder, where yonder can be anywhere but where you are!  TDY.

Haggai was called out from wherever God had him to deliver a series of like-minded messages over a period of performance of only 112 days.  That’s it!  We know nothing more.  He probably returned to doing what he had been doing,  but does it matter?  His role was significant.  The people had returned from their captivity.  Free!  But bound in

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Recipes and Writings

Recipes and Writings

 Just the other day the loved one pulled out a recipe that was hand-written, this being more than an instruction of chemistry and physics (think ingredients and heat, energy).  What came with was a touch, a sense of presence from years past; a voice and the sound of laughter, accompanied by a smile.  

One after another wrote (as instructed, “Then the LORD said to me,” ),  “Write My answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message

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My People

I really appreciate hearing the expression,  “My people.”  There’s identity, passion, ownership, endearment, execution (of a plan), all together seeming wind, fire, lightning, resolve and resolution; adoption.  “My people.”  But before we claim others in our own jobs, family, club or group, God Himself said to Moses, “I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.  Then you will know that I am the LORD your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.” 

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Now and Then

Now and then, often or occasionally, we think of this and that, times together and apart, you being where you are and us being where we are.  Now and then we have to revisit insurance policies to library cards, even times now of electric cars, modern windmills providing electricity for a town of 10,000, and personal devices that allow us to communicate instantly.  One might think there would be little correlation between now and then.  But aren’t we all still people being

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You Speakin' to Me?

““Did you call me?”  Then Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy.  So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.’”  So Samuel went back to bed.  And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”  And Samuel replied, “Speak, Your servant is listening.””God said to another in their youth, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart ...

Grumbling or Gratitude

As Americans, we have the liberty to choose either grumbling or gratitude.  The earlier focuses on us, our circumstances and all things that can go wrong, temperatures up or down, even rain or snow that is more than we might be able to “appreciate, things just not going our way, or the way we would do it.  Fire and storm are no different, if we are so inclined.  Grumble.However, gratitude takes us to another plain, one beyond the world that seems to spin and surrounds us, ...

Motive & Construct

Be it a simple decision to use a basic cookie recipe, adding chocolate chips, or the drafting the beginning of a nation, there is a construct, even a constitution that must follow said motive.  One’s motive will dictate that construct.  For the cookies, the motive is love.  To read our own national Constitution reveals the motive, having come from being taxed and repressed without representation, a motive of freedom.“So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot J

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Alternatives

Courses of action address alternatives in decision making.  These options prove critical differences in outcomes for many, offering a better way.The crowds were gathering. Jesus would soon speak.  He would begin with thoughts, thinking above the political and world thought of the occupied.  ““Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.”  Is this thought from Heaven not relevant to where we are t...

Looking

Many times there are where we are looking back and looking down, but when do we STOP and look up and look forward?  Multiple times through each day we may stop with our feet, but to intentionally look up and to look forward, beyond what’s directly in front of us?  The disciple that was with Jesus through the crucifixion recorded these images.   “Then I saw heaven (above) opened, and a white horse was standing there.  Its rider was named Faithful and True, for He judges fai...

Chords and Cords

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.  Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.  On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together with one accord, in one place.”  Chords and cords.Imagine a church (or family) like this today, as it was on this day and immediately following, strengthened from harmony, chords and cords.  A time and place where the evidence of God’s Spiri

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Stuck

We get stuck.  People get stuck, perhaps in the ruts of habits that hold us back in the past or stuck in the repetitive cycle of today and every day, with little memory of the past or the hope of tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow.  Alternatively, we might get stuck in the future, not being thankful to God for the blessings He has given us in the past or the smell of roses today.  Just stuck.  So how do we and people groups move forward, progressively and aggressivel...

Interruptions



Like it or not, we best plan for them, interruptions, for they seem to happen more than most like or appreciate regardless; be they casual or of great importance.  Those of you that like your uninterrupted schedule and yet have open doors know well this is true. But imagine this scene!  “The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of God.”  It’s one thing for a speaker or pastor with a message

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Belonging

Many today seem to not belong, not that they are so wired, rather, it’s an inside tape that plays.  It’s not a new thing, as I recall the Beatles’ lyrics, “all the lonely people.”  AI, be it Apple intelligence or artificial intelligence, we now have an additional inside voice, a certain belonging; and yet, there are innocent places that will turn to be the wrong place at the wrong time.“This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.”  The same letter and others are welcomin...