My Online Faith Journal

      One of the most amazing stories in the Old Testament is the story of Hosea.  In the beginning of this prophetic book God tells Hosea to go and marry a prostitute.  This relationship between Hosea, the prostitute named Gomer and they're children are going to be an analogy between God and his relationship with his unfaithful people Israel.         It really makes you think about what people must have thought to see Hosea, a good and righteous man, go out and propose marriage to a known prostitute!  You know people tried to talk him out of it.  You know people probably thought he was crazy or worse.  But, by doing this God was trying to point to his relationship with Israel.  That though God deserved loyalty and faithfulness, what he got was spiritual adultery and illegitimate children.  In fact, he compares Israel and Judah's loyalty to the morning mist and the dew on the ground. Hosea 6:4      For me, the most amazing part comes in Hosea 3.  Something has happened, but

    One of the things that the CPE program at Alamance Regional Hospital in Burlington taught me was the importance of understanding myself.  That means understanding my weaknesses, my tendencies, my reactions, so that I can really help people.  I learned a lot about myself through that experience at the hospital.  One of the things I learned about myself is that I have a horrible temper at times.  It is one of the things that I really dislike about myself and try hard to keep in check.     I don't think, I may be wrong here, that when people first meet me they see this about me.  I tend to come across as fairly quiet until you get to know me.  I am by nature an introvert, so sometimes people underestimate me and think they can walk over me.  They did when I was younger and I allowed them to.  But, that isn't the case for me as an adult.     I say all this because the Bible says alot about controlling you tongue and temper.  It is one of those things that you can talk about

    So, recently, I came back from 10 days off from work.  I felt refreshed and renewed and ready to come back to work.  I was even looking forward to seeing friends at work.  The enthusiasm last a whole two days, after that it felt like vacation was a year ago.  Then, I think about why is it that work seems so draining at times.  There is nothing particularly difficult or demanding about my job physically.  Most of the problems that I have seen I have seen before, so there really aren't that many surprises anymore.  I think maybe it is because most of the problems I see are avoidable.  It seems we can be our own worst enemy at times.    I think maybe this is in part what Paul was talking about in Romans 7 when he said, "For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do; but I am doing the very thing I hate." Romans 7:15  Then again in verse 18 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for the wi

    One of the things that you notice reading the scriptures is that it doesn't appear that people have changed much over the centuries.  Whether it is John and James asking to be at the right and left hand of Jesus when he sits on his throne.  Or whether it is the disciples arguing about how great they are.  People don't appear to have changed very much.  We also see that when we look at the history of the Israelites.  They had the same frail mind set that we do some times.  Yet, though God disciplined them at times, he did not give up on them.    One of those moments is during the time of Samuel.  Samuel was at the time this occurred an older man and he had two sons.  His sons did not follow after the Lord like he did and were corrupt.  Partly because of them the people decided they did not want Samuel's sons ruling over them.  They looked around at the nations before them and decided they wanted to be like the other nations.  A kind of corporate peer pressure to confor

Psalm 62:5-6  "My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold, I shall not be shaken."    What does it mean to wait on God in silence?  I have heard it said that someone has said that there is an activity that springs from faith and an activity which shows the lack of faith."  Faith sometimes causes us to act, despite signs that plans or dreams may not work out.  On the other hand, there is a time when action is also a clear sign of a lack of faith.  When Ahaz sought out the help from the King of Assyria in 2 Chronicles 28:16, he was trusting in man not God.  His actions stemmed from a lack of faith and a lack of a relationship in God.     The same may be true for us at times.  Sometimes our faith may not truly be in God,but in other people or in ourselves.  God may allow us to be rocked to the core because our faith is misplaced.  Our call as believers is not in independence, but in dependence.  So,

   In reading through 1 Peter today, I was noticing how many times Peter mentions how we are saved.  The emphasis, according to Peter, is not on what we have done, but on what Jesus did on the cross and through the resurrection.  This is not to say that we do not have a responsibility as believers.  But, look at what Peter actually says throughout this letter. 1 Peter 1:3b "caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." "you were not redeemed with perishable things. . . .but with precious blood. . . .the blood of Christ." 1:18-19 "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed."  1 Peter 2:24 "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might  bring us to God. . ." 3:18    You notice that the emphasis in redeeming is on what Jesus did, first through the

Jesus said to him "If you can? All things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying "I do believe, help my unbelief.""  Mark 9:23-24       I often wonder what it felt like for the disciples to come back down from the mount of transfiguration to encounter a problem like the one they face in Mark 9.  They come down from the mountain top experience of seeing Jesus illuminated with  glory and hearing a voice from the sky and then get plucked down into utter chaos when they come down from the mountain.  No sooner do they get to the crowd then they hear the accusation of the father of the young boy in question say "I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." Mark 9:18.  I also wonder if there wasn't some sense of shame on the part of the disciples who got left behind that they were not able to handle the situation.      At any rate, I am sure they were glad to see Jesus comin

    I am going to mention something that up to now I have not and that is politics.  Over the last few years, we have seen a political campaign and an election, followed by a new President coming to lead our nation in America.  At first, it seemed there was a lot of good feelings for this man, but now his popularity has been sinking.  People are upset that so much money has been spent and so little has come out of it that is good.  Also, it seems that this President is interested in big government and not in making small and mid size businesses more competitive.  He wouldn't know anything about that since he has never led a big or mid size company in any way, but that is not my point.  What I am getting at, is what should my response be as a christian to politics and to what Obama and Congress are doing?  Or is there any response at all?    When we look back at Jesus and his words, we see that Jesus actually appeared to say little about the government of his day.  The Romans rule

   I have a confession to make, I haven't felt very spiritual lately.  I haven't felt very insightful or very wise.  I haven't felt like I am learning something extremely insightful or helpful.  Lately, I've been plodding along, most days productive, but some days just frustrated with how things have gone.  So, when thinking about what to write in this blog, for some reason I thought about a passage that my pastor in Lufkin, Texas gave to me when I had gotten laid off a job.  It is in Nahum 1:7.    "The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him."   When I think about that verse, I think about the troubles I was going through.  I had just been laid off for the first and only time in my life.  Looking back on it, it was one of the best things that could have happened to me, but I didn't see it that way at the time.  I really needed a stronghold then and also do every day of this hot, boring summer we are