Strength comes from many things.  For some, it comes from a position of authority.  For others, it comes through manipulation.  Others muster up an inner strength based on their own abilities and on self-reliance.  Paul, on the other hand, challenges that our real source of strength should come from the Holy Spirit’s power in our inner ... [Continue Reading]

Can you remember the worst job you ever had?  For me, I think it was working in an ice cream factory.  I had just graduated from high school, and I needed to find a “real” summer job.  My brother and I ended up there working on the assembly line.  My brother would tell you that I don’t have too much to complain about since they moved me to help in ... [Continue Reading]

The Church is often guilty of telling people to “come to Jesus” so that their lives will be easier.  Historically, however, the lives of followers of Christ have been anything but easy.  In the rather lengthy narrative of Paul’s life that makes up the reading for today, there is a strong realization that, if Paul wanted an easy life, he should have stuck with ... [Continue Reading]

When we were kids we used to look for living sacrifices to participate in the various experiments we were performing.  Sometimes it was ants under a magnifying glass, and others times it was worms taped to bottle rockets.  I’m not saying these were good things – I’m just using them as illustrations.  These poor creatures unwillingly gave themselves up to ... [Continue Reading]

A number of years back Chris Rice wrote a song about his need for a hero.  With the advent of so many super hero movies in the last decade or so, I find myself wishing that I was a hero more than realizing my need for a hero.  But my need is there, whether I realize it or not.  Just as I wrote a few days ago about throwing baseballs (see the post here), I'm not very good ... [Continue Reading]