Life Without Jesus

3236) A Message in a Bottle (3/3)

     (…continued)  We live our whole lives in a life and death situation, every minute of every day we live in what the Bible calls ‘the valley of the shadow of death.’  That should change our perspective on the value of everything: what we spend our money on, what we pay attention to, and […]

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3235) A Message in a Bottle (2/3)

     (…continued)  This story is a parable on modern life.  Like the many messages floating in from the sea, we have on our radios, TVs, smart phones, and computers, an endless flow of information and entertainment, and the opportunity to read or watch or hear whatever we want all day long.  But the problem

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3234) A Message in a Bottle (1/3)

      In an essay entitled “Message in a Bottle,” Walker Percy asks the reader to imagine a group of people stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean (this simple meditation is loosely based on that scholarly essay).  The island is beautiful, the weather is great, and there is plenty of food

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3231) Ecclesiastes? Who Need It? (2/2)

     (…continued) Not everyone is fond of Ecclesiastes.  It is strange.  It is depressing.  It even gives ungodly and bad advice.  In the parable of Jesus, it is the fool who says, “Eat, drink, and be merry.”  But in Ecclesiastes that very advice is given by the teacher as the best way to live. 

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3230) Ecclesiastes? Who Needs It? (1/2)

     I read one time the true story of a college senior who sat alone in her room late one Saturday night, contemplating suicide.  At just 22 years old, Patti was tired of life.  She had already felt like she had tried everything, and was still sad and hopeless.  She could not find happiness.  She

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3229) An Ecclesiastes Sampler

     One of the most familiar, best loved, and most often quoted books in the Bible is the Psalms.  Right after that in the Old Testament Table of Contents you will find the book of Proverbs, also familiar to many and often quoted.  And right after Proverbs is Ecclesiastes, a book not as familiar

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3227) You Might Not Finish Reading This

By Francis Chan, from his 2008 book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God      You could die before you finish reading this meditation.  I could die while you’re reading it.  Today.  At any moment.      But it’s easy to think about today as just another day.  An average day where you go

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3215) Someone Sees You

An old folktale.      Once upon a time a man decided to sneak into his neighbor’s fields and steal some wheat.  “If I take just a little from each field, no one will notice,” he told himself, “but it will all add up to a nice pile of wheat for me. ”  So he

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3210) Questions After 9-11 (3/3)

Matthew 11:28-30 – (Jesus said),  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ————————-

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3209) Questions After 9-11 (2/3)

     (…continued) Billy Graham spoke at the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on Friday, September 16 (pictured above).  This inter-faith service was an awkward forum for a man so used to proclaiming the clear claims of Christ as THE Way, THE Life, and THE Truth (John 14:6).  Billy Graham’s

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