As I am trying to deal with the crushing agony of yet another mass shooting of innocent school children in Texas this week, I am trying to make sense of something that absolutely does not make sense. We tend to label such acts as senseless, which they certainly are, but it is far more than that. Considering the big picture, the overall landscape of reality, how did this happen? How did we set ourselves up for this to happen? How did we get to this degree of evil in our beloved country? How far have we fallen from God's blessing and grace that such a thing could even be imagined in this United States of America? I am heartbroken for the loss of life, the grieving parents, and grandparents. Fractured families that will never be the same. ...

Do you take the Bible seriously? I know you do. What I mean is do you not only believe the promises of God but do you act on them. As a pastor for many years, I believed the Bible was the inspired, authoritative Word of God. Sounds like good theology, doesn’t it? Putting it into practice, however, was something else.

The Crisis

Gary burst into my office at the church in tears pleading with me to intercede with God for his 8 year old daughter, Joy, who had been having headaches and the doctors had sent her to a hospital in Sacramento, CA. Between sobs, Gary told me the CAT (CT) scan report indicated a malignant brain tumor that was inoperable. The tumor was located in the pineal gland in the center of the brain. The doctor indicated ...

In 2 Chronicles 10 we read of one of the saddest days in Israel’s history. After the death of the great King Solomon, his son, Rehoboam, the king-elect, comes to Shechem to be crowned king by the people. On hand for this coronation is Jeroboam, who fled to Egypt from King Solomon. He is back and is leader of the people. Speaking on behalf of those assembled, Jeroboam lays out the conditions under which the people will serve Rehoboam. Rehoboam takes three days and consults with two key groups. The first group are the older men who served in King Solomon’s administration. Their counsel was to be a servant-leader and speak kindly to the people and they will serve Rehoboam. The second group with whom Rehoboam consults are his ...

With the approach  of summer, Americans have been greeted with an economic shiver as we are reminded once again that we are in a global economy. With the coronavirus we have seen that a virus beginning on the other side of the world can affect every person on every continent in the world! The Dow Jones Industrial Average has seen several 1000 points drops this first week of May 2022. The upshot is despair, and even panic, among millions of Americans whose savings, retirement funds, and pensions are invested in the stock market.

In light of this, how should we respond when the DJIA drops 1,000 points in a single day? Should we panic or look for a ledge to jump off (as many did after the stock market crashed in 1929). Here are four ...