Last night during my sermon on loving your enemies, I was convicted about something. That doesn’t happen very often—conviction while I’m preaching, I mean. I’m usually convicted about my shortcomings during the ongoing, ordinary, day-to-day stuff of life. But lats night while I was preaching, the thought occurred to me that …
Three years ago today, very early in the morning, before the sun had come up, we left Oak Park on our way to Tupelo, Mississippi. About that day I remember very little except that a few friends came to say goodbye as our Ryder truck was about to pull out of the driveway. Betty Nelson came, and Shirley Wilson, and Margie Gilchrist, and Soo Ai Kudo. …
This morning I ended up reading only one chapter. I was “reading the 16s” (see this entry for an explanation) so I decided to start with the first one—Genesis 16—and I never made it anywhere else. Here’s what you find in chapter:1. Sarah suggests that Abraham sleep with their Egyptian servant Hagar.2. Hagar gets pregna…
By the time you read this Marlene and I will be on our way to Prince Edward Island. Okay, let’s stop right there and try to remember our 5th-grade geography. I say that because every time I’ve mentioned Prince Edward Island recently, I’ve gotten exactly the same response, a vague look that says, “I know I’ve heard…
This morning I’ve been reading a pre-publication copy of Significant Living by Jerry and Shirley Rose. Subtitled “A Road Map for the Rest of Your Life,” it’s aimed at older Baby Boomers—people over 55, which happens to precisely my demographic. The book is fun to read because it switches back and forth as an ongoing co…
*Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends. I don’t want to forget that since we’ll be traveling to Prince Edward Island on Wednesday.*Speaking of things not to forget, Marlene has already put our passports on the dining room table so we won’t forget them this time like we did during our trip to Montreal last November.*Here&rsquo…
I received an email from a friend going through a hard time. The details don’t matter except that this friend feels like giving up. My friend feels a bit guilty for feeling that way because not everything is going bad. Some things are actually pretty good. But there is a sense of frustration and emptiness and perhaps a bit of wishing that thi…
I received a nice note from some new friends we met at Cannon Beach this week. After I gave a message based on Philippians 1:9-11 on how to pray for your grandchildren, I challenged the hearers (it was a retirees conference) to pray this prayer for their children and grandchildren. My friends from Bellingham, Washington decided to take that to hear…
In these confusing, uncertain times, I found this quote from John Calvin (HT Of First Importance) reassuring:Our circumstances are all in opposition to the promises of God. He promises us immortality: yet we are surrounded by mortality and corruption. He declares that He accounts us just: yet we are covered with sins. He testifies that He is propit…
Yesterday Marlene and I ate breakfast with two women who are attending the Retirees Conference at Cannon Beach. One woman said she now lived in Oregon but she was really from California but shortly after World War II, she and her husband had lived for a few years in Michigan because it was her husband’s home state, but she didn’t feel a…