Us and Them

Us and them! How do you react to that phrase? Our society wants to do away with any language that smacks of divisions. But here’s the thing; you can’t. There are groups. I have some friends who are members of the Lion’s Club. I am not. I am not an “us” when it comes to the Lion’s Club. I’m a “them”. But they don’t hate me because I am a “them” and I don’t hate them because they are an “us”. I could be an “us” any time I wanted. Continue reading →

Devestating Presence

When I started this series of articles I mentioned that the Presence of Yahweh is not always pleasant. Sometimes the Presence is terrifying. God will not be tamed. He will not conform to our pre-conceived ideas of justice and love. It is not our job to give God an image makeover. It is also not our job to ignore the difficult passages of Scripture. Continue reading →

Keep This Word

For a moment try not to think about the horribleness of the tenth mighty act. Try to imagine what this event meant to the Israelites; what it communicated to them. Imagine the alternative. God is aware of their suffering; of their crying out in despair when their children are cast into the depths of the Nile; of their fear, bitterness and hatred broiling inside of them. God is aware and able to bring it to an end. But what if he didn’t? Continue reading →

Let the Symbol Slay You

Symbols are important, but only if you honor the meaning of the symbol. Some people wear a ring; a symbol of their devotion and unending commitment and love to their spouse, without a thought to what that ring symbolizes. In this case, the ring means absolutely nothing. It holds no power and no meaning. Continue reading →

One More

One more. This could be a statement of intended indulgence; just one more bite to jam into an already bulging stomach; just one more drink before I give it up for good; just one more . . . But it can also be a heart wrenching acknowledgment that one more thing must happen to make the horror end. And the one more thing may just be a horror itself. Continue reading →

Unshakeable

In the movie “Young Lions” Marlon Brando plays a German during World War II. At the beginning of the movie, before the war broke out, he expresses his belief to an American woman that Hitler is changing things for the better; the economy is improving; the job market is breathing again; the people are waking up to a joy that had long been dormant. She, of course cannot understand. She hasn’t watched her family go hungry with hope dwindling by a thread. So, when the world is swept up into war, Brando’s character is a Nazi officer. Continue reading →

Kicking Against the Goads

In all the years that I have worked at Bible camps, I have only had to send one person home. This was a young lady who had organized her cabin into a gang and had successfully terrorized another cabin of girls to the point that they were afraid to leave their cabin. One of the staff also witnessed this girl stealing items out of the target cabin. The items were found in her possession. Continue reading →

Septic Sores

I was watching our cat Gandolph as he was tracking some turkeys up the hill from our house. Now, Gandolph was a hunter. He often brought his kills to the house as gifts of his prowess. “Hey look what I killed for you!” He dragged home dead or near dead mice, bunnies, and birds. I could tell by his stance that Gandolph was preparing to charge up the hill and pounce on those turkeys. Sure enough, he shot up the hill. And then, maybe even a little bit faster than he ran up, he ran right back down the hill. I wonder when it hit him. Continue reading →

Pushing Match

My uncle had a bull who thought the neighbor’s cows were better than my uncle’s. The grass is greener and all that. And because of this, the dumb bull was constantly jumping or breaking through fences to get to those allegedly superior cows. One time he was in the neighbor’s pasture all by his lonesome. Continue reading →