When people think of prophets and prophecy, they normally think of an elect group of people with supernatural insight and power. These are not your average preachers! They have an extraordinary zeal to reach the lost; they dream dreams or have trances from God; they speak riddles or predict the future. Even those of us…
Third Day Miracles
The gospel of John tells us the first miracle that our Lord performed. While he and his disciples were at a wedding in Cana, the wedding party ran out of wine (2:1-3). To meet the need, Jesus commanded the servants to fill six stone water pots, typically used for ritual washing, with water and then…
The King’s Table
Six days before his last supper with his disciples Jesus visited Bethany, a small town just outside of Jerusalem (John 12:1). While he was there his friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha "made him a supper" (12:2), and hosted it at the house of Simon the Leper (Matthew 26:6ff). Lazarus' family had been close friends of the…
Reading Revelation
Earlier yesterday morning I had some spare time and so I sat and read my Bible for a little less than an hour. In that time I was able to read about two thirds of Revelation in one uninterrupted sitting. Reading Revelation like this gave me a new appreciation for the book: I started making connections I…
Passion Musings
Today is Good Friday and, as Jesus' first disciples did, we mourn (in a sense) for this day. We mourn for the happenings of that first Good Friday---that terrible Friday those many years ago when our Lord died on Calvary. On that day, in that moment, so many things were contrary. So many things were…
The Winepress and The Rock
There came a time in Israel's history when they were overran by one of their enemies, the Midianites. For seven years this brutal nation oppressed God's people and drove them into hiding (Judges 6:1). Every year, after Israel had planted their crops and tended the fields for the entire season---right before the harvest---, the Midianites…
Read Like A King
In Deuteronomy, God instructed the kings of Israel to develop a relationship with the scriptures: "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with…
Two Trees
When God created the the world, he "planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed" (Genesis 2:8). In the center of this garden grew two trees: the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Often we talk more about that second…
New Year’s Musings—Passover
A new year has come; and it is common for us to look forward into the new year with expectancy. Many of us see the new year as a time to make a fresh start of things, to better ourselves, and to get rid of bad habits that we may have in our life. This…
With Us Where We Are
In Carbondale, a city about half an hour from my home town, there is a nativity scene that is put up pretty well every year. Inside the little stable is baby Jesus lying in a manger, with Mary and Joseph adoringly looking at the Christ child. Two wise men and a shepherd also join the scene,…
Lectionary 