What a disappointment Eliphaz’ words have been to Job.
He likens his experience to a caravan of travellers in the desert who are searching for water. They have hope and joy when they see swollen streams of water in the distance, but when they reach the streams they have dried up.
Read More desperation, friends, accusation, agony
Common sense can be intuitive or it can come from experience and pain. That’s why it’s so important in raising children to help them learn through a combination of both instruction and experience. When I was a young boy, it seemed that I often had to learn lessons the hard way.
Read More friends, advice, honesty
No one enjoys hanging out with the wrong crowd, whatever crowd that may be. Different people do not mix easily, even when occupying the same space.
No one would choose a tax collector to befriend the Jewish populace.
Read More sin, friends, forgiveness, changeMy husband is a pastor to an elderly audience. Consequently we spend considerable time sitting at the bedside of people who are getting ready to pass into eternity. Conversations with dying people give us harsh realities of how we need to be intentional about living without regret.
Read More friends, faithfulness, regret, dyingJesus had no social media during his thirty-three years of life on earth. No sitting at Moonbuck’s (the other guy’s close competitor), texting his Father back home, hot cuppa’ in hand, waiting for the ping of incoming texts. No checking his Facebook account for comments or friend requests. No one to click like. No chance (even had he wanted one) to become an affirmation junkie like most of us.
But even without social media, Jesus had followers by the thousands.
Read More friends, betrayal, love, failureNo one enjoys hanging out with the wrong crowd, whatever crowd that may be. Different people do not mix easily, even when occupying the same space.
No one would choose a tax collector to befriend the Jewish populace. Many Jews considered tax collectors to be dishonest in financial matters and traitors to their own nations, as these taxes were given over into Roman hands.
Read More sin, friends, forgiveness, change
I was picking up grandchildren after school and one of them hurt a brother, so, being the babysitter, I enforced their mother’s rule and took away the day’s allowance from the offending party. He didn’t like it but accepted it.
Discipline is not meant to be liked, it is meant to change.
Read More friends, discipline, rebuke
Read Reflect I remember a time in my life when I was somewhat disconnected from my local church. I didn’t seem to be engaging in fellowship, and wasn’t as active in serving. I don’t know that I would call it backsliding, but between work and the many other things I had going on it was […]
Read More friends, church, companyRead Reflect This passage challenges me. For most of my life, I felt it was important to be friends with everyone. Yet here we read that we shouldn’t be friends with anyone who rebels against God (v 21). Let’s face it, many popular world views fly in the face of what the Lord says is […]
Read More friends, challenge, wisdom
Read Reflect How willing are you to go where God wants you to go and do what he wants you to do? As the refugees from Judah flee towards Egypt, they plead with God’s prophet, Jeremiah, to pray for them. They are “connecting the dots” and they realize they desperately need God’s help, so they […]
Read More friends, prayer, obedience, commitment