This week’s Red Letter Challenge comes from Matthew 9, verse 38. Most English translations translate this as “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest.” Some use the more archaic, “Beseech the Lord…” But the Greek word “deomai” is probably just as well translated “beg”. “Beg” is a challenging…
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What do you do when you return home? I think a number of us have little routines when we get home. Maybe it’s a place where you immediately go when you get home, or a pet that gets some attention, or a person that you talk to right away. I remember my parents calling me…
Pens. Books. That 20 dollar bill. Even that favorite college sweatshirt that I lent to that girl I was dating. It’s hard not to let the resentment settle in. I lent this to you. I didn’t give it as a gift. I feel like I was pretty clear. But it’s still gone. Not to be…
BYSSIW. Because You said so, I will. This week’s red letter challenge is from John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will obey My commands.” This is a tough verse for a lot of people. Unfortunately, some people can use it to make Christianity look very transactional. But we know that isn’t the case for…
I live with someone who is a self-proclaimed list maker. Maybe you know someone like this. The moment that I or someone has to travel or do something that might require a list – the pen and the notebook paper come flying out. The reason for the list is simple, it gives us security to…
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! This week we start off reading two chapters of the Gospels every week! The Gospels are a combined 89 chapters, and so we’re looking at about 45 weeks of reading the Gospels together. This should bring us right up to the end of this annual focus year on…
Whenever I go to a Florida Georgia District event, there’s a good chance that whatever meeting or speaking event I’m a part of, that there will be a morning interruption at 10:02am. At 10:02am, it is very likely that an alarm that plays the NFL Monday Night fanfare will go off. The offending phone belongs…
I remember growing up and having my mother tell me that writing thank you notes is an important thing to do. I have not done a great job of writing them in the past few years. While I have been very thankful for the many generous gifts I have received, sometimes it seems hard to…
There’s a Chinese story about a woman who comes to a doctor with an odd request, she wants him to give her some poison to kill her mother in law. The doctor refuses, but the woman persists. Finally the doctor leaves and goes to a back room, coming back out with some herbs in a…
In Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” there is a character named Shylock who lends money to a deadbeat named Bassanio. Bassanio also agrees to name his friend, Antonio, as a guarantor for the loan on Shylock’s advice. Shylock gives this advice because Antonio has wronged him, and he wants revenge. When the debt comes due,…