The Death And Resurrection Of A Family
"There was death in the waiting room of that hospital... Carol lay unconscious on a cold table in another room as a surgeon removed her life's dream. The disease had forced her to decide between the death of her body or the death of her dream: a radical hysterectomy at 23 years young..."
"In Nicodemus’ world, religion was based in the physical. It was racial. It all began with birth from a pure lineage of ancestors. Position and privilege were given based on name, title, and obedience to covenant and cultural laws. It was so structured... so controllable. But Jesus came to change Nicodemus' world..."
"The more detailed our knowledge of the precision of moral perfection the greater our own condemnation. This is why nearness to God never leads to arrogance... it leads to humility, and more dependence on the Gospel..."
"Part of my desire to look for joy this year stems from the notion of contentment. God convicts each of us differently and this is one thing He has continued to convict me about. I seem to have this theme often running through my mind-- being content with my own side and not desirous of the proverbial greener side..."
"Patience is not one of my virtues. I try to be patient. Sometimes. Not nearly as often as I should, though. Impatience grips its tentacles around my chest and seems to pull at the very heart of me..."
"After reading this verse again I’m tempted to ask, “Is that all the devil had to throw at Jesus?” He offered a fallen, sin ravaged world to the one who watched with Adam as the sun first rose over Eden. It was so awkward, predictable, empty..."
"Adam's use of the garden of Eden was conditional. Like any conditional covenant, there was a clause detailing what will happen if the conditions are not met. In this case the penalty for breaking the covenant was immediate execution. Some may say this is a difficult verse because, they observe correctly, Adam did actually break God's law, but the penalty of death was not executed as stated..."
"Our defensive coach came over and asked me what was up. I talked about the score and began to make excuses. He said, “You see those guys over on the sideline? Some are there because they don't know yet if they want to play football, others are there because they just don't have the physical stamina or skills, but there are a few there because of their attitude. I want you to go to the sideline, stand by Mitch and his buddies, and keep your mouth shut 'til I call you...”
"Basically, under Old Testament law, there were to be no children born out of wedlock. If a girl was pregnant without a husband her only choices under law were: to reveal a non-incestuous father of her child and be forced to marry him, or reveal an incestuous father of her child and be banished with him, or be stoned to death... We Christians are historically well known for vocally opposing abortion and infanticide, but then we are also often notoriously known for doing nothing for the children and mothers who chose not to abort..."
"A person with perfect moral nature would never have to be told what to do or not to do. Their pure heart and mind would guide them making a statute unnecessary. The very existence of moral law points to a deficient morality in the first place. Corruption precedes law..."
"An atheist at Thanksgiving helped open my young mind to God. Let me explain. When I was a child Thanksgiving week was usually spent with my paternal grandparents on their windswept northwest Texas farm. My grandfather, a veteran of World War 1, was a man I loved and deeply admired. He was an attentive, loving grandfather, and was a gentle man in all his ways. As an adult I never enter the Thanksgiving season without remembering him, and his atheism..."
"Could it be that a person's charitable acts and giving can become so much a part of who they are that they don't even think about it... they just do it? That each caring act becomes an involuntary result of a decision to love made at an earlier time which has now become their soul's passion? A love that now defines them. Each action flowing invisibly from a mind and heart that is overwhelmed by love..."
"George Muller, the British pastor famous for starting orphanages in the 19th century, would only allow “double” orphans into his facilities. He would not take “half” orphans, foundlings, children impoverished by divorce or abandonment, or runaways. While he is to be commended for the help he gave, it must be noted that none of the money he secured by prayer was allowed to be used to feed foundlings, half-orphans, or runaways..."
"In the USA many great presidents, politicians, lawyers, and business men and women have graduated from Ivy League universities like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. But… not one has ever attended the University of Heaven. Nicodemus might have had the greatest education in the Jewish world, but he had never sat at the foot of heavenly Mt. Zion and listened to God. But Jesus, the Son of God, walked the eternal hills..."
"I would expect to see scars on the face and knuckles of a woman who responded to men in that culture the way this woman responded to Jesus. She was a sullen, angry, abused woman, who had experienced a difficult life of broken relationships. She was living, unmarried, with her sixth man..."
"On a recent trip I was excited to find a Jewel Wasp hunting on our dining room floor. Jewel wasps of this type don’t inhabit the U.S.mainland so I had never seen one. I quickly grabbed my camera and stealthily dropped to the floor. (Carol is a very understanding wife)..."
"I was asked the question in the title a few months back at the end of a Bible class. The notion that a prayer for salvation is necessary to receive salvation is so popular today that it is tightly woven into the fabric of contemporary Christianity. Question it and some look at you like you are seriously disturbed. So... I guess you can just call me crazy Larry, because... well... I questioned it...
This is not such a difficult question to answer, but it may be difficult to hear the answer..."
I Dreaded The Guilt
I Dreaded The Guilt
"I stepped carefully through the narrow entrance, then walked down a dim confining hallway past a light-bulb gently swinging on wires that traced back to a tangled wad of spliced wires clustered on a wall. I was relieved that on this visit I didn’t have to share the cramped hallway with cartons of rotting vegetables, but as soon as I turned the corner I was struck by the nauseous odors emanating from the blackened, grimy room used as a kitchen to feed over 150 individuals per day… 70 of them homeless children. Many of the adults who reside in this shelter are visibly insane. Adult men and women mixed together with children of both genders… over 30 of these children are younger than 8 years old. A mix mash of society’s lost..."
"The beauty here has more influence upon my anticipation than the ugliness. The ugliness in this life is temporary and will pass, and it is best to let it do so, but real beauty will continue on... ever increasing. There is nothing like experiencing beauty here to make me anticipate the beauty there... home..."
"Utopia here is a myth… so is the perfect wife, husband, family, government… and church. This understanding is basic for people who wish to live free… together. But we live in a digital age, an age pressured by demands for the unreal, and seeded with expectations created to capture us... not to free us. Many of us have become prisoners of performance chained to lives that don’t really exist. Utopian ideals will destine us to become enslaved artists painting false images of ourselves so people we value will stay… not leave..."