Category: Image

6/30/2024 0 Comments

Transformation

Do you remember the Transformers film series where cars transform into robots with various combative skills? Well, that is nothing compared to what will finally happen when we who love Jesus complete our change to the image and glory that is the Lord’s. The Apostle Paul gives us a preview of what will come in his letter to the Corinthians.

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3/20/2024 1 Comment

Pretending

Alice* presented her plan for her organization to succeed if certain political events went differently than expected. Sadly, her presentation failed because she neglected to vet it with her peers, and her message needed to be clearer. It caused subordinates to question how in touch their senior leaders were with them.

One of the junior supervisors, Becky, wept as she shared her frustration with senior leadership’s inability to appreciate their needs. Her vulnerability encouraged many in the room to speak up with similar thoughts, and the atmosphere in the room became tense and somewhat awkward. Feeling overwhelmed, Becky left the meeting.

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4/13/2023 0 Comments

Completely Open

Meditation
2 Corinthians 5:11--Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.

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11/7/2021 0 Comments

God's Image

On my wall is a painting of the Old Testament prophet Daniel standing on a cement floor calmly looking out a window as seven lions to his right seemingly gaze with him. His image of courage and peace in a room meant for his consumption, inspires me. Of all the saints in the Old Testament, Daniel seems the most Christlike to me.

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6/25/2021 0 Comments

I Identify As . . .

While at a golf fundraising event I saw a marine veteran wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed, “I Identify As Vaccinated.” It radiated humor but was actually rather brilliant. It subtly broadcast with absurdity the politically-correct notion that someone can identify as whatever gender they desire. As the federal government moves to require schools to accommodate transgender students not surprisingly there is an immediate push back. College of the Ozarks is suing President Joe Biden because his executive order on “gender identity” violates the school’s religious freedom by compelling it to force their students to share dorms and shower facilities with members of the opposite sex.[1] So let’s take a closer, deeper look at the whole issue of identity.

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8/29/2019 0 Comments

What's Your Flavor?

Meditation
Matthew 5:13--You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.

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3/31/2017 0 Comments

What Defines You?

Meditation
3 John 11—Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

The preceding passage is one of identity. John makes a simple distinction to his reader Gaius. Choose what is good and by doing so define yourself as a follower of God. John illustrates this in the next verse when he applauds Demetrius as being a man with a good testimony. I suspect Gaius knew Demetrius.

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3/25/2017

We Believe We Are Important

Meditation
Romans 5:8—But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
1 John 4:10,11—Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

3/12/2004 0 Comments

Resignation

Remember Moses? He has to rank as one of the greatest leaders of all time. This sheepherder did all he could to avoid his holy calling to free his enslaved countrymen and lead them into the land God promised the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 6:8). He took well over a million people with countless animals out of Egypt for forty years wandering across harsh deserts where food and water were scarce. He had a phenomenal friendship with God which afforded him incredible power and the confidence to lead. Despite the heartaches of dealing with whining rebels, he passionately set out to accomplish a compelling mission.

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7/18/2003

Principles

I love to spend time with people who are searching for meaning in life. I find that often many of them grapple with tough questions. They sincerely yearn to know God. Repeatedly I find that most of these folks will not go to church. They’ve tried. They have attended different fellowships but left in frustration. Three themes regarding their disappointment emerge.

6/4/2002

Ministry

In 1725, Franciscan monks established the Convent of Ocopa to evangelize and civilize the tribes of the Peruvian jungle. Located about 45 minutes from the city of Huancayo in the central Andes, this monastery contains a library with over 25,000 volumes of antique literature. Adorning many of the walls of the splendid building are paintings that date 200-300 years in age. It is a most impressive place where the walls literally seem to breathe with stories.

4/11/2002

Fallen

In Oregon an evil cloud camps over the Catholic Church as certain priests stand accused of pedophilia. The scandal is not unique to this northwestern state. Perhaps what is lost in this brooding scandal is the misleading charge of the press. First, the real issue is not whether the cause of these problems is the vow of celibacy priests invoke. Second, it is more than abusing boys that is occurring, it is homosexual relationships—something the press will not touch for fear of offending the homosexual community.

2/16/1998 0 Comments

Infidelity

The most amazing thing happened while I was away recently on a trip to Japan. A small group of Americans were teaching a few Japanese, slang expressions we use in the U.S. I joined in the brainstorming to supply words like “rad”, “holy cow”, “get a grip” etc. About ten minutes later I left to return to my own workstation. My two Japanese coworkers were reading the latest copy of the newspaperStars and Stripes. They wanted me to explain what the word “bimbo” meant in the title line of a front page article about President Clinton and his latest woes with Ms. Lewinsky. The American Heritage Dictionary uses the following definition of the word bimbo.

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