Above image: Blue Ridge Mountains; Symmes Chapel, Cleveland, South Carolina ——————— Based on my sermon October 16, 2016:    (continued…) Look again at these verses from today’s Psalm, Psalm 121:1-2: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills– from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven […]
1287) Hoping for Help (part two of three) Read More »
Based on my October 16, 2016 sermon:    “I feel much better now that I’ve given up hope.” I first saw this saying on a button several years ago and I have thought about it many times since.  When I googled it today I learned that this was the title of a 1984 book
1286) Hoping for Help (part one of three) Read More »
Above: Elijah Fed by an Angel, Ferdinand Bol  (1616-1680) ———————–    (continued…)  In I Kings 19 Elijah is depressed.     Elijah stood almost alone as a true prophet of the Lord during some of Israel’s worst times.  The nation was ruled by the wicked King Ahab, and the temple was dominated by
1168) Depression in the Bible (b) Read More »
I Kings 19:4 — (Elijah) went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” —————————    “I have had enough,” Elijah said. Â
1167) Depression in the Bible (a) Read More »
From “Don’t Force the Celebration at Funerals” by Courtney Reissig, posted March 22, 2016 at:  www.Christianitytoday.com ——————————–    In college, I told my friends that I wanted the Jars of Clay cover of “All My Tears” played at my funeral:  “When I go don’t cry for me / In my Father’s arms I’ll be.”
1097) Celebrate or Cry? Read More »
   (…continued)  This difference between looking back or looking forward is the very thing that the apostle Paul describes in Philippians chapter three.  Beginning with verse four Paul describes all the things in his past that molded him into the faithful Jew he had become:  he was born into the people of Israel, he
1031) Past, Present, Future (b) Read More »
   In his ground-breaking work on the human mind, psychologist Sigmund Freud taught that by delving deep into your past life you could learn how your early childhood experiences created the person you are today.  While much of Freud’s work is no longer accepted, it is now assumed by many that what you are
1030) Past, Present, Future (a) Read More »
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) was a British reporter in the U.S.S.R. in the 1930’s. Â Here he describes two episodes which provide contrasting insights into life after the Russian Revolution. Â Muggeridge had initially admired the revolution; then he saw the results of two decades of communist rule. Â The Communists promised hope to the nation, but instead
997) Nowhere Else to Turn Read More »
By Randy Alcorn, http://www.epm.org, June 8, 2015 blog.    Thornton Wilder, the late great American playwright and novelist, wrote the play Our Town in 1937, which won a 1938 Pulitzer Prize.  In the play, a character says, “I don’t care what they say with their mouths– everybody knows that something is eternal.  And it
796) Eternity Set in Our Hearts Read More »
 By Randy Alcorn, September 24, 2014 blog, at:  http://www.epm.org    Years ago when my children were still at home, before leaving on trips, sometimes I would say to them, “I’m not expecting anything to happen, but remember, if it does, I’ll see you again in Heaven.”    Some would consider this morbid or
533) Being Open About Death Read More »
