Figurines used in 25,000 bc are
The earliest examples of man-made amulets
Perhaps to protect the deceased
Or usher them to the next life.
Ancient Egyptians wore amulets
Resembling a scarab beetle
Presumably because the dung balls it pushed
Resembled the sun and promised life. Continue reading Amulet
The young adult was walking through a local store wearing a t-shirt with a simple message – “Not a Role Model.” No other images, just the words standing out in bold type on his chest.
It wasn’t too long ago that NBA great, Charles Barkley made that phrase popular. Barkley was known for his inappropriate behavior including on and off-court fights, breaking a man’s nose during a fight after a game with the Milwaukee Bucks, throwing a man through a plate-glass window after being struck with a glass of ice, and mistakenly spitting on a young girl in March 1991. Continue reading The Responsibility of Influence
Ancient Israel believed they had carte blanche with God’s approval.
Not unusual. Especially among nations that are enjoying a modicum of political and financial success. “God bless America” we hear so often in political speeches, implying that we have a special dispensation from God.
Ancient Israel’s mantra was “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,” as they looked proudly at the gleaming place of worship they associated with God’s dwelling place. “Nothing bad could happen to us because we have the temple of the Lord” was the upshot of this phrase. Continue reading Do not trust these deceptive words.
Matthew was a Jew who worked for the Roman government as a tax collector. He got this job when he made the highest bid to the Roman official posting it on Craigslist. His job was to collect 1% of annual incomes for Rome but it was expected that he would extort more monies for his own bank account.
These “publicans” were Jews, hated by the Jewish people because of their complicity with Rome and their unscrupulous reputations. A publican, or tax collector, had to be ready to accept awful rejection from his own people.
Which is why Matthew gasped when Jesus walked by his tax booth and said, “Follow me.” No one ever invited people like Matthew anywhere. The best he could hope for was that people would just ignore him and not hiss when they walked by his booth. Matthew immediately put out his “CLOSED” sign and left with Jesus. Continue reading They worshiped, but some doubted.
Echo l
oved Narcissus
His beauty drawing and captivating her.
She followed and called out to him
But he spurned her love and ran away.
Deceit and seduction seized Narcissus because
He believed only in himself and
His vocabulary was solely I, me, and mine,
And he chose silence rather than companionship. Continue reading Narcissus
Matthew didn’t identify him – just “an angel.”
Matthew said that this angel rolled back the mill-stone door of the tomb of Jesus and was sitting on it when the two Mary’s arrived. Luke said that Joanna was there too. They came expecting to have the awful task of putting aromatic spices on a body already beginning to decay – a measure of the love that they had for this dead one.
The Roman guards that were supposed to be guarding the door of the tomb were dumbstruck by the angel’s presence. Who wouldn’t be? A giant mill stone moved about like a marble. An angel sitting on the door like he was taking a coffee break. The people who were supposed to insure against anything fishy were lying in a stupporous heap against the tomb. Continue reading The Angel
The virtuoso caresses her violin,
And the two merge into one – flesh and spruce.
Chin hugging the wooden body,
Strings teased by flesh into singing their melodies.
No magic this violinist’s craft.
She did not wake up one morning
With Tchaikovsky flowing from her fingers.
For years she courted and romanced the music.
See that tree?
What’s a tree?
You know, with the limbs and branches,
Reaching up to the sky.
What’s the sky?
Physical blindness can’t be hidden
By bravado or denial
By pretending to have vision
Because sooner or later someone
Will call you out and ask, See that tree? Continue reading Blindness
Our daughter thought that going to private school was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
She painted a good picture of how hard life was at her junior high school. She begged and pleaded to make the switch, as soon as possible.
When the new school year came, she had not changed her mind, so we kept our promise to transfer her to the private school of her dreams. At mid-year in the private school, amid tears, she begged to go back to her old school. Life was not as ethereal as she had dreamed, and she hated the private school.
The internet lit up recently with story after story about a Seattle pastor who used over $200,000 of his megachurch’s money to buy his way on to the New York Times best seller list. It’s bad enough for any author to attempt such a deceit, but it’s more painful when it’s a person making claims about representing Jesus. The criticisms of such behaviors get “enhanced” much like the prison sentence of a person using a gun for a crime or belonging to a criminal street gang. Continue reading Five Reasons for Integrity
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