Splish, Splash
The truth be known—once you've worked in any form of children's ministry for any period of time, you are hopelessly, helplessly, forever and a day thinking of things through that lens. For example, walking through Walmart or Target's toy department is impossible without seeing potential object lesson props. Holidays take on a whole new meaning as you brainstorm how to incorporate the holiday into a lesson. Television game show theme songs become brain fodder for background music for crowd-breaker games. Songs, whether nonsensical or action-oriented, pierce your mind throughout the day. Am I...
The Word-Validating Holy Spirit
Several years ago, I read this powerful quote in Howard M. Ervin's These Are Not Drunken As Ye Suppose - "Truth divorced from experience must always dwell in the realm of a doubt." Go ahead and read it again, possibly a third time. To me, Ervin's statement is so clear that I've questioned if I needed to expound on the importance of experiencing and seeing. So, walking in wisdom, I asked for an expert opinion on this question (which means I talked to myself). I asked myself the question and the answer was yes, so here it is. Consider these scriptures. "...the Master working right with them,...
If Billy Burns Was God!
Okay, I'll 'fess up. I know that there is a God and I'm not Him. But, if I were, the Acts 10 chapter certainly wouldn't be in the Bible. If I were God and had to deal with the people involved, the culture of that day, and religious tradition, I would say that there was too much drama and what I call highly unlikelies. There were just too many things at which I'd be shaking my head. (NOTE: pull out your Bible and follow along with me) If Billy Burns was God, I wouldn't... 10:1-6 Approach and dialogue with a Gentile named Cornelius, a person of a race that any God-fearing Jewish person would...
It’s in the “Ing”
Update...update...update. For those of us living in the smartphone world, the word "update" is a constant in our lives. Let me take you back in time. Can you remember just a few months ago when Apple iPhone users were anxiously awaing Apple's new, far-better-than-all-of-the-rest iOS 18? And, can you also remember that as with all previous operating systems, it was just a matter of days until Apple released an update for that operating system? Cupertino, California's Apple headquarters soon released the 18.0.1 update only to be followed by the 18.0.2 update and then the 18.0.3 update and then...
God Loves You!
I found in my many years of writing these posts that most of the posts are written for anyone and everyone. But, then there are times when I sense that a post is written to a very specific individual facing a very daunting challenge. As I sat down at my computer, I believe that this is one of those specfic individual facing a specific challenge posts. If you're that person, I have some exciting news for you. It's found in nine of the recorded 218 words spoken in Peter's message at Cornelius' home. "...I perceive that God is no respecter of persons." Acts 10:34 Other translations render it...
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