Mission Faithwalk

            Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8) The  Lord  turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have  and save  Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14)   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,     and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.     In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.     Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers

  Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the  Lord  will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. (Exodus 14:13) No one will be able to  stand  against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you . (Joshua 1:5) Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.   For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,   and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,   and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11) Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) One of my goals for the coming year is to “bow the knee.” It’s a recurrent theme in my life, usually, when things aren’t going the way I want them to. It might not be your goal, but today’s passages make it clear that it’s inevitable, so discussing it is probably a good idea. Traditionally, one bowed, knelt, or prostrated oneself before one’s superior. That could be one’s god, one’s king, one’s parent, or one’s conqueror. We tend to think of it as a sign of submission and surrender. As such, it’s a pos

  He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the  Lord  require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)           Someone on social media asked how we can have an enjoyable new year with the pandemic. Of course, my first thought was, “That depends on what you consider enjoyable.” That led me to the question of what I considered enjoyable about 2020. The answers I ended up giving him were that I enjoyed accomplishing things, helping (myself and others – but truth told, I tend to enjoy helping others more,) and learning. I suggested to him that whatever the two or three broad areas were for him, that he should pursue them.           Science tells us that endorphins make us feel good. They are responsible for the “high” you feel after working out, and for the “high” you feel when you’ve helped someone who needed it. They are the body’s response to stress. So if we want an enjoyable year, we need to stress ourselves. We need to

  Brothers  and sisters , I do not regard myself as having taken hold of  it yet ; but one thing  I do : forgetting what  lies  behind and reaching forward to what  lies  ahead, (Philippians 3:13)           Full disclosure – this is being written on Christmas afternoon. I’m ready for Christmas to be over. It’s not that I want to put the decorations away or stop listening to Christmas music. It’s the fact that “it’s Christmas” and therefore, everything is supposed to spend the day in neutral. It’s the fact that it’s time to turn our attention to shutting down 2020 and preparing for 2021. In other words, I want Christmas to be over because then I can pretend to exercise some control over my own life.           It’s sort of like following someone down the highway. You’re both doing five miles per hour over the speed limit, but the fact that you are behind the other driver means you’re being held back. Do you really want to go any faster? No. It’s just that there’s someone in front of

  Be careful that you do not forget the  Lord  your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. (Deuteronomy 8:11) Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do  not   forget  the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. (Deuteronomy 4:9)           Christmas is over, or will be by the time you read this. It’s the time of year when we traditionally look backward and forward. If there was ever a year we are likely to want to forget, 2020 is it. Or is it? What really happened in your life this past year? For one thing, you survived. It may not have been easy, but you did it!           As I look back, in January, I bought a trailer and moved into it. I moved back to Erie as the pandemic was gaining its hold on the American psyche. What took hold of my psyche were the ideas of being resourceful and helpful. I don’t rea

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,     and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them . (Luke 2:6-7)             It’s Christmas. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in wrapping and unwrapping presents, cooking and eating food, visiting others virtually to keep everyone safe. Not too surprisingly, most of those things aren’t high on my Christmas wish list. As usual, what makes Christmas special to me are lights and music. My Christmas present to you, this year’s Christmas concert is a little different. Part of my gift is learning how to set up and save a playlist on YouTube. I should have given it to you years ago. It’s much easier than I thought it would be. And now that I know how to do it, I have to say that I’ve left way too many songs out. Anyway, the songs say far better than I can what needs to be said today. Enjoy.   Christmas Concert 2020

       Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:11-14) In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with  blood , and  without  the shedding of  blood  there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)           ’Tis the day before Christmas. My decorations have been up, and I’ve been listening to wonderful Christmas music for nearly a month, but I haven’t been writing Christmasy blog posts. It’s almost as if I’ve been saying “Bah! Humbug!” It’s not that – it’s the fact that I can’t think of anything to say about Christmas that hasn’t been said a thousand times in the past ten days.           But this Christmas is different from any Christmas we’

  Trust in the  Lord  with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.   (Proverbs 3:5-6)             I’ve told the story before. I said to God, “I don’t understand!”           He answered, “That’s OK, you don’t have to.”           To which I replied, “No. You don’t understand. I don’t understand.”           I’m not sure which of us rolled our eyes first on that one. But the truth of the matter is that it’s not about not understanding. It’s about not approving. It’s about not being in control.           I’ve also written before about the heart being the will. I have a friend who grew up with cats. She says that to a cat, “no” means “approach from another direction.” There are athletes and artists who spend hundreds and thousands of hours practicing the basics of their sport or art. Consider your hobbies, interests, skills, and interests. How much time have you spent? How much money? How much

           “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.   “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) Then the  Lord  came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the  Lord .   And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The  Lord , the  Lord , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ” (Exodus 34:5-6) Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)      Jesus replied:  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’   This is the first and greatest commandment.   And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)             I am convinced that our continuing problems exist

               After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem   and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2) You have probably heard that tonight, just after sunset,   you’ll be able to look to the south west and see the star that led the wise men to Jerusalem and from there to Bethlehem. Jupiter and Saturn are supposed to seem to meet in the sky. If you are hoping to see the sort of star you see on Christmas cards, I strongly suspect that you’re going to be disappointed. The light from the two together isn’t likely to be thousands of times as bright as they are normally. It isn’t going to dominate the night sky, and I don’t think it dominated the sky back around 2 BC. The wise men from the east followed it. Most of the population of the world missed it completely. And the star didn’t lead them to the right place. They wen

 W isdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,   from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,   who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,   whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. (Proverbs 2:12-19)   It’s nearly Christmas time, which means it’s the time of year when I’m permitted to make Penuche. It’s a brown sugar fudge that should basically be described as a diabetic coma waiting to happen. I’m only allowed to make it at Christmas because if I made it more often, I’d weigh 600 lbs. This morning, I made a batch, and I have never had it fail like it failed. So after lunc

  Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? (Proverbs 2:20-22)             The first thought as I read this passage was that I have spent too much time in the past week or so dealing with a mocker. I suspect I tend to give my time too often to the simple, the mocker, and the fool. It seems hateful to me to pin the simple, mocker, or fool label on someone and walk away with my nose in the air until or unless I’ve given them ample opportunity to turn from their simplicity, mockery, or foolishness. After all, I know people who think I’m one or more of those three, and it seems to me their delight to pin labels on me. That doesn’t usually bother me much, but I can spend hours going back and forth with someone, knowing that getting through to them wou