Grains of Sand

“ I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life ” —John 5:24, NIV. My mother used to tie me to the clothesline. No, she didn’t tie me with clothesline, she simply attached my harness to the clothesline. This allowed me the freedom of the backyard and kept me from wandering out to the street. If she could have trusted me to stay in the yard I’m sure we could have done well without the harness or the clothesline; but she couldn’t. I was a wanderer. I know that because the story is told of the first (and last) time mom gave me the freedom of the yard and I ended up in the middle of the street in front of our house. The only thing—humanly speaking—that saved me from certain death was the quick action of my big brother who rushed out and hauled me back to the safety of the sidewalk. He crossed me over from “death to life” in the physical sense. I thought about that incident ...

Time for MONDAY MANNA, hosted by our very own Joanne at An Open Book . Check it out. Does God "fudge" a little? Exaggerate? Understate? We often act as though he does. That's what got Eve into trouble a way back in the Garden of Eden. Satan remarks: "Did God REALLY mean to say that…" She swallowed the doubt; hook, line, and little, wriggly worm. Unfortunately she wasn't the first, and she won't be the last, to not take God seriously when he says something. Balaam was a little dense, but he wasn't stupid. After God make an "ass" out of him by speaking to him through the mouth of his donkey (Numbers 22), the prophet finally delivered the message to Balak that he couldn't possibly curse the nation that God has chosen to bless. " God is not a man, that he should lie [ouch!], nor the son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? " —Numbers 23:19. If God did "fudge...

Time for Monday Manna over at An Open Book . Slip over there for more thoughts on this wonderful passage of Scripture. Worried about losing your salvation? Don't. If there were ever two verses that demonstrate how secure the believer's salvation is, Romans 8:38, 39 are those verses. " For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. " Like many of us, those who received Paul's letters probably had their days when they wondered if they were really part of God's kingdom after all. You know, those days when Satan whispers in your ear, "Did it again, eh? What makes you think you're a Christian?" Then there's the overwhelming sense of unworthiness that sometimes morphs into, "No, this can't be true—God save ME?" In ...

Rowboats should have been the vehicle of choice here in Caracas yesterday. In the middle of the afternoon the skies opened and torrents of rain fell. The official government response was to report that nothing unusual was happening; the pictures posted by people out on the street told a different tale. Government should walk in the shoes of the hoi palloi once in a while. When the sheets of falling rain eased enough for it to be possible for me to see the street that runs in front of my building, the sight was impressive. A torrent of muddy water was racing down the hill from the mountains behind my apartment complex. It flowed down the street, crossed the intersection at the bottom of the hill and then continued to flow down into a nest of houses cradled in a hollow below the intersection. I hate to think how much water and mud they had to clean up. I was safe and dry—the advantage of living on the 13th floor. I could watch the rain, even enjoy it, from the safety and security of my ...