Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Mark 1:14

Leave a comment

“After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever read something in one place, read something else in another place from a purportedly friendly source, and something about the two accounts didn’t quite sit right? We often see this today in modern politics. One person says one thing and another says something slightly different; different enough that the contradiction is glaring. Generally speaking, people don’t tolerate contradictions very well. Contradictions reveal either duplicity or hypocrisy, or both. This is bad enough when it comes to life in general. It’s even harder when we seem to find them in the Scriptures.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Mark 1:1-3

1 Comment

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite musicals of all time starts like this: “Let’s start at the very beginning; a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C; when you sing you begin with…” Can you finish that? Do-re-mi. That, of course, is from The Sound of Music and Julie Andrews’ truly iconic voice. I’ve been thinking a lot about beginnings lately. Specifically, as I have been leading my church through the first part of the book of Acts, I have been thinking about the beginning of the Gospel. How did it start and how does it start in our lives? That’s a very good question to ask and one we are going to be asking together here in our next journey together. I hope you’ll come along with me.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: James 1:12

Leave a comment

“Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes life is hard. I’ll preach a funeral service today for a good and godly man. This will be the third funeral I’ve been a part of in the last two weeks. That’s three mourning families. Two were guys for whom you could have said, “It was their time,” (although that never makes the loss sting any less). One makes you want to rage against the injustice of a broken world. Sometimes life is hard. How do we handle it?

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Romans 7:18

2 Comments

“For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

So, last night our air conditioner broke. We discovered this about bedtime. The night before our oldest had his first day of school. Joy. My lovely bride had observed the house felt warm earlier in the evening, and I, being the loving and considerate husband that I am, ignored her because I was comfortable. Now, in my defense, we couldn’t have done anything about it anyway, but it was definitely not one of my finer moments as a husband. That being said, the real issue was a lack of air. Fortunately, we have two units and so could just move everybody sleeping downstairs upstairs for the night. Do you know what wouldn’t have worked? Pretending everything was fine and sleeping like we normally do.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Philippians 3:8

Leave a comment

“More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ…”‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

What are you most proud of in this life? What is your prized possession? Those may or may not be the same thing, but that doesn’t matter right now. What is it that gets you the most excited? What if you lost all of that? Is there anything that could salve the wound and make it better? Would you ever be okay again without it? Paul here gives us the assurance that you could be. In fact, if you would count yourself a follower of Jesus, you should be.

Read the rest…