Judith My son and I are reading the story of Judith. This short novella is famous from the many paintings and sculptures of the beautiful heroine depicted in the act of cutting off the villain’s head or triumphantly carrying her trophy. The wonderful story begins in a little mountain town…

The problem is that Christ uttered the words “render to Cesar what is Cesar and to God what it God’s”. These words have plagued Christians for millennia. We love Christ and have yet also have strong political beliefs. If we had to choose, we would obviously choose Christ first. Donald…

A brief interlude Back in My Day… It always bothers me when someone accuses the culture of sliding. The classic expression, “kids these days don’t know what it’s like” is followed up with the joke “back in my day…” Who thinks like that? No, that is not a rhetorical question…

John 9 Recently my son celebrated his eleventh birthday. He is maturing into a strong young man and I wanted to share a message from the scripture with him. My mind blanked as I began to thumb through the pages searching for anything that stood out. I stumbled across a…

Lost Sabbaths 2 Chronicles 36:15–21 The final fall of Judah begins with “early and often the Lord, God of their ancestors, sent his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place” (v.15). God is present in the history of Judah. He is showing…

For whom the bell tolls — 2 Chronicles 33 Only our nightmares today fully illuminate the losses endured in the ancient world. Living in a world where armies appear out of the darkness, ransack your home, murder loved ones, and take you away into slavery is unrelatable to our modern experience. The Lost Tribe of Manasseh…

Plausible Deniability Chronicles 32 There is an ancient Buddhist parable about four blind men learning of an animal called an elephant. Upon finding one, they rub their hands over it and describe the animal. One feels the tusk, claiming an elephant is long and smooth. Another rubs the animal’s sides…

2 Chronicles 26 All sins are bad as they separate us from God. A favorite Bible verse Christians love to cite, is Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Typically, when quoting this verse, they focus on the first half and de-emphasize the…

The Slot Machine Acts 17:16–34 I once went to a casino in Reno Nevada. Walking by the slot machines, I was amazed at the numbers of people toiling away in vain to win a buck. Tired and slouched from hours sitting on padded vinyl seats, they were usually accompanied by…