When Joy Does Not Come Quickly Enough

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,    but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12, NIV) “One may experience sorrow during the night, but joy arrives in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5, NET) “In thy right hand are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11, LSB) __________ Imagine a world where there are multiple, overlapping and seemingly never-ending sundowns and sunrises (many situations and conditions), and in that, you might get a different glimpse of the landscape of the human soul. It is...

The Blessing

In the past year or more I have gravitated toward many thoughts about blessing and cursing, and seem to listen for these elements in many Psalms, Old Testament stories and New Testament references these days. As I look about me I increasingly see a world that is slipping not only into stupidity and madness but into seemingly newly-invented forms of deep evil as well as the resurrection of age-old forms of evil practices of all sorts. I don’t know that...

Unbelievable?

Secret Chinese-run CA lab hid COVID, other infectious … The Sacramento Beehttps://www.sacbee.com › california › article277949468 4 days ago — A secret Chinese-run laboratory in Reedley, California was illegally hiding infectious diseases, including COVID-19, malaria and other … What was inside the illegal medical lab found in California? … FOX59.comhttps://fox59.com › news › national-world › what-was… 5 days ago — (KSEE/KGPE) – Court documents detail the horrors and dangerous nature of an illegal lab found in Reedley, California, exposed several months ago … Illegal lab in California carried bioengineered mice … USA Todayhttps://www.usatoday.com › nation › 2023/07/31...

Spontaneous Decisions to Clean Things Up

As I brushed my teeth tonight I glanced around my bathroom and for some reason, my eyes and thoughts turned to a bar of soap that I’ve had for nearly twenty-five years. It’s a beautiful bar of soap. It still smells like soap. It somehow moved and followed me from Webb Road to Alexandria Drive to Nottingham Road to Modaus Road to County Road 460 and now resides in my bathroom on Davidburg Road. Many years ago, my young family...

Shame

The summer of 1981 was a time I came face-to-face with my own proclivity to do a variety of shameful and youthful things. One day in August, I had an experience where I believe the Holy Spirit overcame me with a deep sense of conviction of my sinfulness and need for Jesus, and I consider that moment forward the beginning of my desire for a new life, in God. As I went on into adulthood, there are some times when...