The ramblings of an addled mind.
Many years ago I built a pair of English Garden Benches to go in a therapy garden at a church. When I delivered them they spoke of having plaques made and attached that quoted Matthew 11:28 “Come unto Me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I don’t know if that was ever done, but it seemed like a nice idea.
A comfy bench can give rest for the body, but how do we find rest for a weary soul? The rest of the passage quoted above holds the key. Let’s look at that today.
There was a woman who had a son named Timmy. When Timmy was in kindergarten she would walk him to school, a few blocks away.
Halfway through the year Timmy said, “You don’t need to walk me to the door, Mom, I’m a big boy now. You wait here on the sidewalk and I’ll go up on my own.” So she’d wait on the sidewalk and watch till her son got inside.
The following year her son said, “Mom, when I start first grade, I want to walk to school on my own. I’m a big boy now, you don’t need to walk me to school.” She agreed, but was worried about leaving him on his own so young.
She had a friend who lived two doors down who was going to be walking her daughter to Kindergarten that year and the woman asked her friend if they would time their walks to and from school to allow Timmy to get out front by a half block or so and just sort of keep an eye on him without letting him know they were keeping an eye on him. Her friend said she would. Continue reading “Grace and Marcie On Your Tail”
When people are asked what would make them happy, many think of things that involve possessions, wealth, fame, or power. To some, these things bring a fleeting sort of happiness. But pursuit of these things always becomes just that: a pursuit, an on-going chase. A little makes you want more. Then more. And more. This is not happiness.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus tells his disciples the simple formula for being happy. Let’s take a look at verses 5 through 10. Jesus begins each verse with “Blessed are” (actually the “are”s were added later by translators, originally Jesus said, “Blessed, the meek”, “Blessed, the merciful”) and so on. The word translated as “blessed” is the Greek word, makarios, which means “supremely blesst, fortunate, well-off”. It is closely related to another form, “makarizo” which indicates large in size or length. He is not talking about being a little blessed, but being hugely, supremely blessed! Continue reading “How to Be Happy: According to Jesus”
I got up this cold, cold morning and found that while we still had water flowing, the internet was not. So I went over to my workshop intending to take a hair dryer to the router, melt the blockage, and get the electron flow moving again. But it turned out that there was nothing wrong with modem or router: our LAN is working perfectly, it’s just that my laptop does not feel like being conversational this morning.
So I settled into my chair, set my mug of hot, black coffee in its place next to the laptop and began working on a local writing task. The scent of this invigorating elixir was, apparently, enough to change the laptop’s mind, for after a few moments of typing, it went “bing!” alerting me that new e-mail had arrived.
Coffee is great stuff, isn’t it?
We (Marie and I, this time) are doing our part: Continue reading “The Rolling Browns”
You are probably familiar the story of Christmas, at least as presented in countless school plays about the birth of Jesus all across the world: the virgin Mary has a baby, angels tell shepherds to go see Him and sing of His glory, wise men arrive from far off with gifts to offer in worship to the King of the Jews. Today I’d like to take a closer look at a few details of this account from Matthew chapters 1 and 2.
The account opens with a genealogical listing of the ancestry of Jesus, from Abraham to Joseph. This listing is meaningless to us in the sense that, in our understanding of genetics, none of the people listed are genetic contributors to the baby Jesus because Joseph was not His father: the Holy Spirit was. The only person listed who may have contributed anything genetic is Mary, and that is uncertain. Continue reading “Examining the Birth of Jesus”
Reality is a lion, crouching patiently in the tall grass.
Others pantomime their fantasies declaring, “I am a rhinoceros” or “I am an elephant, the lion cannot hurt me!” Since they are in fact gazelles they will, in their defiant arrogance, strut too close to the tall grass.
Despite their posturing they then become lion-lunch.
I did not originate these, but I’ve collected them from various locations on the World Wide Web as I’ve encountered them. Enjoy!
If you are a regular reader here, you know I serve as a canine foster care provider. Being a charity, we are (always) raising funds to keep doing what we do. We have a new way for you to help … and all you have to do is — SHOP! You like shopping right? Do you shop on Amazon.com?
Piney Mountain Foster Care is an all-volunteer run 501(c)(3) and is now GuideStar accredited and registered with Amazon Smile. If you select us as your beneficiary, Amazon will donate a percentage of THEIR profits from your purchase to us as your chosen charity. Continue reading “Smile: Simple Giving to Favorite Charity”
About two weeks ago I engaged in a discussion about evidence that Jesus lived with a fellow through social media. Because it was on social media I was able to record our back and forth verbatim. It was a good discussion: he made some good points and it never degraded into mean-spirited argument (as so many do).
This topic branched off from a discussion with others about how silly religion in general is with all its rules and clouded, conflicting information. Here is our discussion: he is Bruce, I am Doug.
Bruce: So how do you know which parts of the bible, if any, to believe? Perhaps all of it is a creation of men. After all, there is not one single contemporary account that Jesus ever existed, not one. Continue reading “Is There Any Evidence That Jesus Lived?”