Refuge

Are you analytical? Do you believe Freud or do you think 'sometimes a banana is just a banana' I think Yogi Berra said that? Do you over-spiritualize? Like the time you prayed for a good thing to happen and then they finally put in the right amount of cinnamon in your pumpkin cinnamon mocha latte at Starbucks??? Oh yes, so spot on! No, I mean - things happen right and it is good to just remember that God is sovereign and allows "good" and "bad" things to happen. But where do you turn for your help? your strength?

Psalm 18:1;39 I love you, O Lord, my strength. You armed me with strength for battle;

Stop Doing Good Already

I have been skimming through N.T. Wright's Surprised By Hope for the past 3 months. In chapter 5 Cosmic Future: Progress of Despair, he asks us to think about how the human race has picked on alternative theories such as Darwinism, Communism, socialism, etc. to fill in the gaps that the Bible has left open. He asks us to think about how any of those formentioned theories have benefited us. I thought he may be right about how such "progressive" ideas have been used for evil. I suppose that is true about most things. He also lops in social justice or the social gospel of making people physically and emotionally "equal". Certainly, social justice has been useful in spurring the 1960's civil rights movement in the U.S., and even in South Africa in the 1980's but what bad could come out of the social justice movement? Well, I guess it is how far it can go...and also, whose scale of justice are you using in a pluralistic and relativist society? Good question..so whose justice and whose peace are they talking about?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (NIV)

All the News Fit to Print

There is no escape from the headlines when news is 24/7, no reprieve from the bad news..every day. From the mundaneness of fallen politicians to the saber rattling in the mideast and Russia, what do we make of it in our daily lives? How do events in North Korea, China, Iran, Russia, or India affect us? OR what about the inequity of the lives of those only 3 miles north of Rockefeller Center?

One of my heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. once said (and I am paraphrasing) that we are all connected - so that one person's conditions will indirectly affect another's life. Paul wrote to Timothy that such uncertainty would affect believers to stray so that we are to carefully remember ---

Timothy 4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

So fret not, be slow to anger, and do not despair. For as believers, we have a permanent place in the heavenly kingdom where there is peace with our Heavenly Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ. We also have good news to share with others.