Category: Trouble

6/5/2025 0 Comments

Understanding Protection

In the war of the colonists against Great Britain, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor . . . And have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

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3/19/2025 2 Comments

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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1/7/2025 0 Comments

Not to Do Dumb Stuff

Pastor Brian led the children in a short message at Agape Church. One of his questions for the kids was if they had any New Year’s Resolutions. Several girls and boys shared before one young boy raised his hand and said his New Year’s Resolution was “Not to do dumb stuff.” That elicited quite a chuckle amongst the adults.
Inspired by the young boy’s answer, I called and asked my West Point classmate, Randy, what the dumbest thing he could think of that he’d ever done. It did not take him long to answer. “I got a car, a California customized van, as a Cadet, before it was authorized. I kept it parked off campus but decided to drive it around school one day before graduation.” Unfortunately, someone reported him, and he became a Century Man. This meant that on top of the hours he had already walked for other infractions with his rifle across a cement apron, he would surpass 100 hours of marching.

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9/5/2024 1 Comment

Too Much Pain

What is spiritual dishonesty? Could it be when I refuse to tell the Lord what I honestly think or feel? Might it involve minimizing pain before others to project hollow strength? If the fear of what people can think of me, if the truth is told, exceeds the actuality of my condition, I’ve robbed them and myself of what it means to be genuine. In perpetuating falsehood, no one is bettered, nor can healing occur. I wonder if the means to honesty is too much pain—something Job can help us grasp.

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6/23/2024 2 Comments

Bad Company

Judas Iscariot had a great life going. Selected by Jesus, the world’s only perfect leader, he joined a team of eleven others to follow God’s Son. We don’t know much about Judas, but John 12:4-6 is revealing.
Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.
Was Judas a rebellious, immoral man? Or was he a confused follower who occasionally stole money for his pursuits? Why would he betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver when he could have prolonged their time together and continued his successful pilfering?

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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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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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7/26/2023 1 Comment

Dried Up

The earth is tilting? What?
Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now—thanks to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters--we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to .24 inches of sea level rise.[1]
I’m unsure of the science of tying the earth’s tilt to pumping groundwater, but I know God is sometimes the primary cause of disasters and climate change.

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

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6/12/2023 2 Comments

Ordained

Klaus Schwab, a German engineer, founded the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 24, 1971.[1] About 1000 companies fund this international non-governmental lobbying organization. They are somewhat famous for their annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Switzerland. It is a dangerous organization committed to an ideology that the globalized world should be managed by a “self-selected coalition of multinational corporations, governments and civil society organizations (CSOs)” through initiatives like the “Great Reset” or the “Global Redesign.” They are not transparent with their finances. Nor are they shy about advocating pandemic lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and a strong collectivist ideology that scorns individual sovereignty and advocates eliminating many citizen rights to enforce their enlightened views.[2] Schwab and his cronies are openly hostile towards Christianity and are not shy about espousing a utopian, depopulated earth where they rule and control in godlike fashion.[3]

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1/14/2023 8 Comments

Navigating the Christian Life

Author Geoff Davis

Over forty years ago, on April 1, 1982, I pinned on a US Army Ranger Tab. When I began that program on February 2, 1982, I started with some of the Army’s best soldiers. God used it as one of the most formative lessons in my walk with Him, so that I might know Him better.

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12/16/2022 0 Comments

Grief

Grief is a day shrouded in fog and icy rain fed by a howling wind. It is spoiled fruit no longer fit to be savored. Grief makes its exhausted bed in a hidden cave on a barren mountain ridge called Sorrow. It rests in rare moments of silence and grows weary amidst mindless laughter. Its tears leave furrows unfilled by platitudes. When its memories are roused, new rivers flow, and expectation is uprooted, torn, and damaged.

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10/3/2022 1 Comment

When the Sea Rages

Hurricane Ian unleashed its rain and winds upon Florida, and conservative estimates think the cost of damages could exceed $55 billion.[1] That is a horrific blow to the lives of all affected. Ian did not catch Florida by surprise because sophisticated satellite tracking and imaging allowed meteorologists to be pretty accurate in tracking the storm’s course and speed. That is a good thing because it allowed people to prepare for the storm and, if necessary, escape to safety. But imagine if you were on a boat with your smartphone and a mobile weather app that called for clear skies and warm weather when suddenly a furious squall came out of nowhere and threatened everyone’s lives? That is what happened to Jonah (except none of them had smartphones).

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5/7/2022 0 Comments

Buried Like a Donkey

Meditation
Jeremiah 22:18,19--Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!” He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem

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7/29/2021 1 Comment

Nebulous

I have a theory for which I would love to get your feedback. Earth’s inhabitants all spoke the same language when they were created. That ability to easily communicate fed their pride and they decided not to spread over the earth in obedience to God’s command (Genesis 1:28). They preferred to build a prodigious city with a colossal tower where they could make a name for themselves or, in essence, do whatever they felt like doing (Gen. 11:1-4). Because of their pride and idolatrous hearts God came down to their city, called Babylon, and decisively acted.

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7/18/2021 0 Comments

Moving Past Crisis

Meditation
Matthew 14:12-14—Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus. When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns. As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.

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7/9/2020 1 Comment

Crushed!

While working on getting a book published I still lacked the artwork and so I called Bruce,* my project manager, to find out the status. When he answered the phone, it was obvious by the tone in his voice that he was stressed. Instead of diving into my request, I asked him how he was doing. Bruce sighed and then shared. “I’m going through a divorce . . . my house flooded and I’m having to replace the flooring in several rooms and it is not covered by insurance. I’m not sure if I can get a loan. I have an ulcer . . . my mother died and left me her house in a trust but one of the trustees was dishonest and it turned out that there is a lien on the home for unpaid debt . . .

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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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1/29/2020 0 Comments

Civil Disobedience

Meditation
Exodus 1:15-17--Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” The Hebrew midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

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5/8/2019 0 Comments

Overcomers!

Fitbit likes to encourage me when I surpass my daily goal of 12,000 steps. I receive a message on my phone that congratulates me for being an overachiever. The dictionary defines an overachiever as someone who performed better or accomplished more than was expected, especially by others. But to be an overachiever is really not all that great because I’m only surpassing the expectations of someone else. Left to our own effort, we may overachieve all of our lives but end up empty in the end. Death conquers life. Youth succumbs to aging. Health is battered by disease. Human achievement in the end is hollow. Perhaps this is why so many overachievers feel empty and despondent.

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