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The central event in the history of mankind is the resurrection of Jesus. Without it, death is the victorious enemy of all mortals. Without it, death comes, and all our dreams, aspirations and future plans come to a screeching halt. It all ends. When Job faced this problem, his heart was full of questions. Job looked at his life and said, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a…

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was so brutally beaten before He was crucified? Was it just to fulfill O.T. prophecies? While His scourging and other persecutions did satisfy the ancient predictions of God’s spokesmen, I’m quite certain Pilate and his torturous underlings didn’t know or care one whit about them. However, last Sunday, while partaking of the memorial commemorating His death, and as I reflected on the pre-crucifixion brutality He endured, something dawned on me… Though I’ve never looked…

Nightmares can really be scary. Ask old king Nebuchadnezzar. On more than one occasion he was bothered by his night visions and could not take comfort. The fourth chapter of Daniel is a case in point. That night things were well in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar retired for the evening feeling very confident, but he awoke frightened and troubled. He had a dream about, of all things, a tree. In his dream, a tree grew to great height. Its leaves were healthy…

Sunrise. A glimmer of light on the horizon. I can see it; but only if I am up, in a good position and the weather is sufficiently clear. Wherever I am, it comes and is soon “gone”. That majestic sunrise, however, keeps right on moving, becoming sunrise after sunrise for the next folks in line to the west. The sunrise never stops, and it never has since God put his “greater light” in its place on the 4th day of…

War, it is a word that brings dread and despair. We don’t like to use it, and we do not want to think about it affecting us. However, even though it is a word that we do not like to use, or even hear, we tend to have a pretty good talent for waging war. Just about every generation of our nations’ history has been involved in some conflict in the world and has been affected by war. Most of…

Horst Schulze, former president of the Ritz Carlton Hotels company, is known for his masterful ability to create a culture of first-class service. Under his leadership, his companies have received some of the highest awards their industry gives. When asked, “How did you build this culture,” Horst can literally give you hours of discussion on the things that shape an environment of friendly, helpful service. Part of establishing that culture involves teaching every employee that it is “your responsibility” to…

It’s funny how difficult it can be to wake up for worship, and yet how easy it is to wake up super early for our favorite hobbies. It’s funny how a cold and cough can keep us from going to worship, yet the same cold is hardly even noticed when a day of fun is planned. It’s funny how treacherous the road conditions look when Bible class is the destination, and how passable they appear when a social event is…

There sits what could quite possibly be the softest, cutest, and most lovable stuffed animal ever to exist. You insert a couple of shiny quarters and the exciting 20-seconds countdown begins. The claw begins to move at your command. You check your angle on the prize from the front, then from each side. You meticulously adjust the claw so it lines up perfectly. Satisfied, you push the shiny red button and the claw begins to drop. Time seems to slow…

The whole world is aware of the accumulating mountains of waste and garbage threatening our planet. Air pollution, water pollution, land pollution are all becoming familiar terms. Every major city seems to be having problems with garbage disposal. We must find some way to handle the garbage, or it will finally overwhelm us. The human body, like any well-ordered house, also has its garbage disposal equipment. Every time you expel a lung full of air you are throwing off poisonous…

Everybody wants to be happy. There may be more emphasis in our society right now than ever before on finding happiness. There’s a lot of focus on having a job you can be happy with. Some people move to different locations in the pursuit of happiness. Wives leave husbands and husbands leave wives because they’re just not happy. Teenagers are committing suicide at a staggering rate because they’re depressed, unhappy. Happiness seems to be elusive to many people, but a…

We have some dear friends who have been on vacation this past week. As they often do when they’re going to be out of town, Joe and Jan asked us to run by and feed their cats every other day. We’re more than happy to oblige—Joe and Jan have been very kind to us and feeding their cats is the least we can do. This past Wednesday, my wife drove our younger son by their home and he went inside…

It’s a common theme in many congregations to talk about how to make worship more meaningful, more encouraging, even more exciting. Suggestions might include: change the time of worship, drop the announcements, begin with a period of silence, change the order of the service, cut down the sermons, have more prayers, pray shorter prayers, sing more songs, sing fewer songs, sing more songs with a quicker tempo, start on time, et al. The list goes on… When carefully considered, most…