Category: Opposition

3/19/2025 1 Comment

Overflowing Hope

L-R: Bill Wadley, Dan York, Laura Wadley

He had a pretty rough upbringing with three different mothers and two different fathers.[1] His dad was an alcoholic and gambling addict. His 16-year-old birth mom was a drug and alcohol abuser. At the age of five, he had to take care of three half-siblings in the apartment, and if anything was broken or went wrong, he was beaten. He was seventeen before he found out his stepdad was not his real father.

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2/4/2025 1 Comment

Running Away

In Genesis, Jacob (whose name meant heel or supplanter) twice defrauded his brother, Esau. First, he manipulated Esau into giving him his birthright. Second, he stole Esau’s blessing by deceiving his aged and blind father, Isaac, into thinking he was his brother. So, it was ironic that years later, Jacob’s uncle Laban cheated him multiple times—first, by giving away of his daughters as brides, and second, by changing his wages on numerous occasions for rendered work. So, when God told Jacob to return to his own family, he seized the opportunity to leave while his uncle was shearing sheep. He did not give Laban the chance to say goodbye to his daughter and grandchildren, instead secretly fleeing.

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1/28/2025 0 Comments

Shooting from the Shadows

When I asked West Point classmate Greg, if he had ever been shot from the shadows, he wrote:
I was thinking back to a time in a position of supervisory responsibility for 50 federal employees in eight different locations, enabling almost 5,000 other federal employees. We were working hard to meet tasks and missions professionally. We even received an award for excellence at the Executive Building next to the White House.

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8/16/2024 1 Comment

Valor II

The word valor originates from the Late Latin valorem and means strength or moral worth.[1] In the sense of strength, we think of one’s mind or spirit that enables them to take on danger or engage in acts of bravery and courage. In the sense of moral worth, valor is displayed by an unshakeable commitment to right conduct and virtue. A person who honorably refuses to engage in wrongdoing despite the pressure to do so displays valor.

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3/10/2024 3 Comments

Are You Prepared?

After hearing Jesus speak about the destruction of the temple buildings, His disciples asked Him what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). He shared with them the signs of the end times and what it would be like before His arrival.

An undeniable unsettledness grips the hearts of entire populations concerning these days. One must hardly look to see that all is not well on Earth. But rather than mope or cast blame, why not cope within a different frame—the frame of preparation? Zach Clinton, author of Even If, asked thousands of men attending the Ignite Men’s Impact Weekend at Thomas Road Baptist Church two questions. “Can you sleep through the storm because you have prepared? Are you training for the trial you are not in?”

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2/6/2024 1 Comment

You Must Be Quiet

I was talking to my stressed certified public accountant (CPA). It is that time of year when he prepares tax returns for all his clients. The strain on his face was palpable, so his answer was no surprise when I asked him what I could pray for him. “Ask God to relieve the stress and anxiety of this tax season.”

Eric requests prayer for Ben and Kelly’s failing marriage. Erwin needs intercession for his beloved wife, Sue’s deteriorating health. Jerry seeks wisdom in his job addressing conflicts with Iran, Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan, Israel, and Hamas. Nanette argues passionately for the right to see her grandson to the deaf ears of a drug-addicted daughter. Her prayer is for reconciliation and healing.

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1/14/2024 1 Comment

I Am Claiming God's Goodness

At the beginning of each year, I select a passage from Scripture to be my verse(s) for the year. This year, I picked Psalm 65:11.

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12/7/2023 0 Comments

Resistance

West Point cadets as plebes [freshmen] are required to take boxing. I’m a runner, not a fighter. Give me a race to run or a soccer field to compete, and I’ll be thrilled. Put me in a ring with someone who is graded to punch my lights out, and I could think of a million other places I’d rather be. Boxing was painful, and I was no Golden Gloves boxer. Oswald Chambers taught that “Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life.”[1] I’m guessing he must have competed in a boxing ring.

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6/5/2023 1 Comment

Drinking the Living Water

If you have ever hiked in the mountains, you know that the higher you climb, the purer the water source will be. But as the streams flow downward, they become part of the forest, and now purification tablets are needed to protect against giardia parasites which can cause giardiasis. Continuing downward, the stream merges with other streams and becomes a river. More pollutants are added as waste flows into the river from drainage systems, and people throw their trash, dump chemicals, etc., into the water. So what is my point?

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11/13/2022 0 Comments

The Night Before a Hanging

Esther is an amazing book that teaches why God’s people should trust Him, keep their faith, and not give in to opposition and persecution. The Israelite exiles faced elimination thanks to an antagonist named Haman, who talked his king into decreeing their destruction. Before the dreaded day of death came for the exiles, Haman constructed a gallows for his enemy Mordecai and went to sleep, confident of his diabolical plan’s fulfillment the next day.

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9/7/2022 1 Comment

The Long Walk

Meditation
Romans 8:3-4--What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

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5/14/2022 0 Comments

Your Faith has Healed You!

Life is full of challenges. As you read that what challenge comes to mind that you are facing? For some of us, it is financial, for others relationships, and still others health, the need for work, etc. What is unhealthy is when we let the problem(s) we face dominate our thinking because we flounder in fear and uncertainty. In his book Brave, Strong & Tender, Phil Downer asked, “Do you ever find yourself spending more time thinking about the size of your problems than thinking about the size of your God? Do you feel locked up because of fear?”

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5/11/2021 0 Comments

Jerusalem

Today as I’m writing this Hamas is firing rockets into Tel Aviv and Israel is conducting counter air strikes. Seeing conflict flare up in Israel made me curious so I consulted the internet: “What city has been conquered the most?” The answers were quite interesting. Don Tano, a full-blooded Sicilian, claims that Palermo is the most conquered city in the world.[1] The Telegraph lists the top seven most conquered cities in the world as: the Northumberland town, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Palermo, Szczecin (Shcheh-cheen) and Gdansk (formerly Danzig) in Poland, Edirne (Adrianople) in Turkey, Jerusalem, and France’s Nice.[2]

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2/14/2021 0 Comments

Competition

Competition is one of my signature strengths. I don’t like losing or being wrong. By God’s grace I am mellowing with age. So, I can somewhat identify with John when he and his buddies were bothered that someone they didn’t know was taking on demons in the power of Jesus’ name yet wasn’t part of their signature team. I’m sure he felt that that it was completely inappropriate for one who was not spending time at the feet of the Master to minister as a supposed follower. But John and his fellow disciples were misguided in their thinking.

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1/14/2021 0 Comments

Spiritual Warfare

The first evidence of physical battle dates sometime between 4000 and 3500 B.C. from the ancient city of Hamoukar located in modern northeastern Syria. Historians believe the Uruks of southern Mesopotamia invaded the region.[1]Battles around the world have been fought for a long time and their spreading evil caused God regret for even creating man (Genesis 6:6).

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9/11/2020 2 Comments

Heroism

On November 18, 1952, LT E. Royce Williams from his ship the USS Oriskany, off the coast of Korea, was given a bombing mission against North Korean targets as part of a strike group. The pilots flew near a river that bordered the Soviet Union. Upon completing their mission, they received information that 7 MIGs were scrambled to intercept them. Williams was ordered to return and provide protection for his ship.

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7/18/2020 1 Comment

Self-Dependent

Meditation
Isaiah 22:10,11--You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

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5/30/2020 1 Comment

Judges

Israel experienced the death of their famous leader Joshua still facing the enormous task of conquering Canaan. The book of Judges follows up where the book of Joshua left off, with the challenge of expelling wicked nations in territory God assigned for His people in a period that spans three centuries.

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4/7/2020 0 Comments

By What Authority?

In the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, He first made His authority clear to a young, unbroken donkey which He triumphantly rode into Jerusalem. His ride stirred a quick-gathering crowd that placed their robes on the road and spread leafy branches in front of the One they hoped would be their King. Matthew wrote, “The whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” (Mathew 21:10).

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3/31/2020 0 Comments

Numbers

The fourth book of the Bible is Numbers which is a translation of Arithmoi, from the Septuagint. It is titled as such because the book contains two census counts, numerous statistics, tribal and priestly figures, and other numerical data. The Hebrew name is included in the first sentence of the book and means “in the desert of ”; an accurate description of the book’s content, which follows the Israelites through almost forty years of desert wandering.[1]
The story began in the second year of the Israelites escape from Egypt, as they camped in the Wilderness of Sinai around 1444 BC. It ends 38 years later “in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho” (36:13) in 1406 BC.[2]

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