Grains of Sand

Pixabay The Gospel and the young. However you define the “children” Jesus refers to in Matthew 18:1-14, the result is the same—don’t cause the young to stumble in their faith, or else! Jesus was responding to a question put to Him by His disciples: “ Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ” (18:1) Considering some of the other discussions they had among themselves I suspect they wanted Jesus to affirm that they, for the sacrifice of following Him, qualified for the position. Instead Jesus takes a young child and uses the simplicity and fervour of a child’s faith as an illustration of who will be the greatest in the kingdom. That provides a launch pad for this: “ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea ” (18:6). Yikes! This leads to an even more graphic description of what is necessary to protect the budding faith of the young. ...

Pixabay From favoured son to foreign slave. Not exactly a success story. But then God has never measured success the same way we do. Genesis 39 only contains twenty-three verses and it takes Joseph from slave to prison—not exactly “upwardly mobile.” Just when it seems that things are improving Joseph is faced with a moral dilemma. His master’s wife demands services that don’t appear on his job description (39:7) and dishonour His God. To maintain job security, most people would be tempted to do whatever it takes. But not Joseph. Integrity is Joseph’s watchword. He will not betray Potiphar (39:8). And he will not betray God: “ How then can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? ” (39:9). As payment for doing what was right, Joseph ended up in prison. Somehow that doesn’t seem fair. What notable in this brief passage are these statements: “ …the Lord was with him and…the Lord gave him success in everything he did ” (39:3). That was Potiphar’s house. A little later this: “ …the...

Pixabay Yesterday I went downtown to do an errand. While there I wandered down a street I was not too familiar with and discovered a tiny shop run by an old world clock maker. I have a mantle clock which belonged to my parents. It hasn't worked for years—a spring had sprung on the mechanism that makes the Westminster Chimes work. I had taken it in to a local watch repair place in the town I was then living. The gentleman there told me it couldn't be fixed—at least not by him or anyone else in town—so I allowed him to take out the mechanism and install a battery-powered unit. But I kept the innards of the original clock. When I went into the shop yesterday (in a new town) I was amazed at all the beautiful mantle clocks, grandfather and grandmother clocks on the premises. The clock maker asked how he could help. I told him my story (the grimace on his face when I mentioned I had had the mechanism removed and replaced by a battery told me a lot!) and asked if he could put th...

“ The days are coming,” declared the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’– they will fall, never to rise again .” –Amos 8:11-14, NIV. Some people recognize the signs. The famine has come upon us. The land lies dry, whirligigs of dust swirling around. We waited too long to make our course correction, to pull out the weeds of human philosophy and worldly wisdom and to put our roots down into His riverbed where we could draw from the water of life. The weeds have choked the grain. And the God who let us choose between His Word and...

It's Word-Filled Wednesday once again. This week we are hosted by Susan at Forever His . Check it out. In celebration of American Thanksgiving I am going to share this delightful picture of my third cousin, Morgan. (Even though I am a Canadian, it's good to be thankful all the time so I'm going to join hands with my American friends here.) " Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins ad heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfied your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. " —Psalm 103:1-5 Have a wonderful Thanksgiving my friends.