A very popular Christmas carol that we sing during the advent season is titled The First Noel. We don’t use the word noel in everyday conversations; in fact it is a completely theological term. Noel’s literal translation is, “To make a joyful shout expressing exhilaration at the birth of Christ.” Continue reading
When I was a teenager there was a popular song on the radio that had the line, “I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more…Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door.” This song is a love song that is supposed to show just how much the singer would walk to show his love for a girl. I must admit, I have never walked 1000 miles for anything. There was one time that the Army made me walk 25 miles and all I remember about that was it was terrible, I felt very little if any love.
When I was a kid we had a small garden in our backyard. There wasn’t much about the garden that I really enjoyed except for one thing, pumpkins. There was something that just amazed me about pumpkins, you start with a small seed and by the end of the summer the plant covers your whole garden. Not to mention that on a good year one seed can produce dozens of pumpkins. One year we grew a pumpkin that was so big it took two guys to lift it…Amazing!
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I recently had the opportunity to preach through Psalm 23. It is a psalm that many of us are very familiar with; some might even have it memorized. The psalm deals with the relationship between God and us. In Psalm 23 we are compared to sheep, and God is our shepherd. Continue reading
Most of you have probably seen the old movie The Wizard of Oz. Some of you might even remember that it was a book first, written by L. Frank Baum. You probably have memories about the movie if you have seen it.
The story is about a young girl named Dorothy who triumphed over some very big odds. This story has a great moral; if you do what is right, you will prevail. But if we observe the story more closely we can see the historical background of the author of the book. During the time of the author Baum, there was a very heated debate of whether or not America should continue to use the gold standard for the U.S. dollar or if they should switch to silver. The historical context of the book suggests for Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road (the gold standard) but once Dorothy gets to the end of this road she finds Oz is a fraud. Dorothy’s real hope came from her silver shoes (the movie changed them to ruby so the color would show better).
I love summer. Summer’s in North Dakota are like nature’s way of apologizing for winters in North Dakota. I don’t know exactly what it is that I love the most, but I know I love the long days, beautiful sunsets, and the wonder of being outside enjoying the Creators majesty.
As I am sitting inside writing this blog I am looking outside at a beautiful blue sky, a bright sunny day, and green vegetation everywhere. It is easy to sit back and thank God for His creation at times like this.
Luke chapter 15 records the account of Christ’s parable of the prodigal son. Most Bibles have titles placed a certain points to help individuals find different accounts or changes in the flow of scripture. These titles are not original and were added years later. One title that I have always disagreed with is the prodigal son. This story is really not about the son, but the love of the father.
Can a leopard change his spots?
A man in our church recently gave me a newspaper article that he had read that surveyed Millennials (people between the ages of 18-29) to find out what they thought about the Bible. It turns out that about 26% of young people think the Bible has too much influence on society. Apparently teaching things like love, forgiveness, and selflessness are just not part of some people’s priorities.
This got me thinking about how the Bible has influenced us today. One aspect of influence that hit me was just how much our everyday speech has been impacted by the scripture. Many idioms or saying we have in our everyday speech that comes from the Bible. Here are just a few:
Buddha, Zoroaster, Muhammad all have something in common, they are dead. The world is full of religions that worship “dead leaders.” On resurrection Sunday we celebrated the fact that God sent His son as a substitute for our sins.
Many times I fear that Christians get wrapped up into the holiday of Easter without fully appreciating and understanding what really took place on resurrection Sunday. Easter is the celebration of the amazing act of Christ conquering sin and death and justifying man to God, awesome! Continue reading
St. Patrick’s Day
At the age of 16, Maewyn Succat was captured by Irish raiders and taken from his home in Wales to be a slave in Ireland. As a slave, Maewyn spent his days removed from all human activity as a shepherd in the rolling hills of Ireland. For six years, the only person Maewyn could talk to was God. Knowing very little about God, and not having a Bible, he spent all day praying and asking to know more about God. In a vision, God told Maewyn to go back home to Wales. Following the voice of God, he walked the entire length of Ireland without any raider or person noticing him, and got on a boat and headed home to his parents. When the boat returned to Wales, the country was ravished by plague and drought, and the sailors, along with Maewyn, had nothing to eat. Maewyn simply offered a prayer to God, and God sent a herd of wild pigs to the sailors. His ministry had begun.
Saving Grace 
