Advent Reflections: Matthew 2:1-2

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“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Starting with today, I think we have something on the calendar just about every single day for the next three weeks. That seems to happen every year at this time. Winter sports begin and every group wants to have a holiday gathering and there are extra church activities and there’s extra shopping to be done and decorating the house and all of that sits on top the regular events and meetings that don’t stop simply because there’s extra stuff going on. All of this busyness can easily overwhelm us and leave us completely unprepared for the actual celebration that lies ahead of us. Rather than getting excited for the season, we just want it to be over. How do we keep that from happening? As we begin our Advent journey today, let’s talk about keeping our focus where it most needs to be.

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Morning Musing: Romans 10:17

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“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I have several gentlemen in my church who are members of Gideons International. Gideons members make for wonderful church members. They are faithful and committed believers who contribute powerfully to the Gospel work of the church. You may be more familiar with the Gideons for their efforts to distribute copies of the Scriptures to everyone, everywhere. You’ve probably stayed in a hotel with one of their Bibles in the nightstand drawer. Let’s talk about why their work matters so much.

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Morning Musing: John 8:31-32

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“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There is a pulse of freedom that beats in every human heart. We weren’t made for slavery. And yet so many find themselves there. And I don’t just mean physical slavery. People are trapped by all sorts of different things…often in ways they don’t even realize or understand. And yet we know inside that something is keeping us from being able to do what we want. Then Jesus comes along promising freedom. Freedom comes with truth, but that idea comes with context. Let’s talk about it.

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A Gift of Trust

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What do we do when everything is falling apart around us? That’s the question that Habakkuk was left to wrestle with at the end of his collection of prophecy. His circumstances weren’t great, and they were on the cusp of getting much worse. What are we supposed to do then, especially when it’s not going to be within our power to fix them? Here at the end of our journey, we finally get an answer to that question. Let’s see where Habakkuk lands in his journey with God, and talk about how we can get to the same place in our own lives.

A Gift of Trust

Do you remember the old Magic Eye books? Do you remember those images? I’ll put one up on the screen as a reminder. Believe it or not, there’s a Walleye fish and a hook in all of that gobblygook. I made the mistake of looking at one on my Facebook feed the other day (pro tip: don’t do that in public because you look really funny crossing your eyes and holding your phone up right in front of your face), and suddenly there was a new one every time I opened the app. As you can see from the Magic Eye image up here, when you look at it for the first time, there’s clearly nothing there. But once you learn how to see them and figure out what the image is, you just about can’t not see them. 

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A Special Birthday Reflection

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“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching, for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.” (CSB Proverbs 1:8-9 – Read the chapter)

Some of the best movies are the ones that create a potent sense of nostalgia around an idyllic childhood. The Sandlot is a classic in this genre. It is ostensibly a movie about baseball (and one of the greatest ever released), but it’s really a movie about nostalgia. It’s about making the viewer feel a certain way. Our culture is enamored with the idea that childhood should unfold in a certain way. It should be carefree and safe and familiar and encouraging and challenging and so on and so forth. It should happen in the context of a family with a mom and dad and a sibling or two. It should be happy and fun. On that score, my childhood was about as idyllic as they come. One of the two main reasons for that turns 70 today. This is for him.

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