Musings of a (Sometimes) Muddled Mind

Matthew 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. I have lately begun turning my attention more and more towards older books.  My reasons for doing so are myriad, but among them are: 1) frugality - most older books can be found very inexpensively.  If you don't mind reading electronic versions, many of them are free.  There are so many very good, meaty, interesting books available for free, why would I want to spend $10 or more on a book that will never be of similar literary quality to any number of books that I can obtain for free? 2) interest - many of my interests are piqued just as well by books written 50 or 100 years ago at least as well as, and often more than, newer books.  3) quality - I have found that many books written within the last 20 years or so are increasingly formulaic, vulgar, and generally full of puffery with very little substance. ...

On my way home from work last night, I listened to someone telling the story of a man who almost canceled a business trip when his two year old son started crying.  The boy realized when he saw airplanes that Daddy was leaving on a trip. Being a dad, I completely understand how much it hurts to hear your child crying.  It is often very difficult to continue on a given course of action knowing that said action is causing your child emotional pain and distress. That said, the father went on his business trip anyway.  The speaker - Joni Eareckson Tada, by the way - was making the point that the father cared about his child's hurt, and that our Heavenly Father cares about our hurt, too. Sometimes, however, it seems a bit hard to understand how God could claim to love us and yet allow us to go through whatever it is we're going through when we have that thought.  It becomes difficult to think of God as loving us when we're suffering.  And when we start wonderin...

Did you ever want to shake someone? No, not literally. Well, okay, maybe literally, but not hard enough to cause permanent damage. Why do I ask? Because I just wanted to shake someone. There I was, scrolling down my Facebook page (yes, I know) when I saw a quote from the Dalai Lama being shared by one of my Christian Facebook friends. Now, before you start in at me about how we can find truth and wisdom everywhere, and that Christians don't have a monopoly on either – yes, I agree. Nobody is always wrong about everything, except for that one guy. You probably know him (or her). But my problem wasn't with the fact that a Christian was sharing a quote from the Dalai Lama. My problem was with the quote itself. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” It took every ounce of my will to not type “no it isn't” and hit the enter key. The only reason I didn't is because I know it would have led to much more heat than light, because, sadly, t...

Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. I'll never forget the day this verse slapped me in the face. There I was, minding my own business, when this verse jumped out at me. Well, actually, somebody threw it at me. But what he had to say that day really made me stop and think about life. How often do you hear someone say something along the lines of, “Why doesn't God show up and answer prayer the way He used to? Why can't He come down and rescue us today like He did for Peter and Paul and all those guys in the New Testament?” On the surface, that seems like a fair question, right? I mean, the Bible is full of stories where God dramatically rescues His people from serious trouble. He delivered Paul and Silas from prison, he rescued Paul from a shipwreck, he freed Peter from prison, and the list goes on and on. They prayed (or someone else prayed for them) and God answered with a breath-taking ...

Isaiah 53:5 has always been one of the most fascinating verses in the entire Bible for me. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. I have spent a good deal of time mulling this verse over, working out what it meant, trying to dig into it to see if I was missing anything. And along the way, in addition to finding meaning in the verse, I have decided what I really think it doesn't mean as well. For instance, I am just about one hundred percent positive that “by His stripes we are healed” has absolutely nothing to do with physical healing. You've heard that taught, I'll bet. “Are you sick? Well, just come on and claim your healing! By HIS stripes you are HEALED!” But I don't think that's what God meant. Not at all. Don't believe me? Let me ask you a question. How many stripes had Jesus taken when he healed the ...

I just turned on the television to find that a series of explosions have disrupted the Boston Marathon. My first thought, and hopefully yours as well, was to pray for the victims and their families. I have never lost a loved one to a senseless act of violence such as this, but most everyone has lost someone they loved in one way or another, so I think we can all empathize to an extent. Watching the footage of people being loaded onto stretchers and wheelchairs, placed into ambulances, and otherwise being carried away from the carnage, my heart goes out to that city. Some of the early eyewitness reports being read and played are absolutely heartbreaking. My second thought is to wonder how long it will be before someone uses this tragedy as a platform from which to bash religion. It never takes long for someone to lump all religious people into one large pile and labeling the whole pile with one broad brush. I'd be willing to bet that those same people...

1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” I've known this verse for most of my life. I don't recall the first time I read it, but I'm sure it's been over 30 years, and probably more than 35. And very likely more than 40 years since the first time I heard someone else read it. The analogy of the followers of Jesus being like the parts of a body is one of the most popular – at least in the circles I've been part of. People have even had fun trying to decide which part everyone is. I told my wife just today that I'm pretty sure she's the tongue (although she has a lot of competition for that particular honor). Most Christians, I would imagine, have heard this term used at least a few times. “We are the body of Christ.” I can think of at least three songs off the top of my head that use this very terminology. It's one of those things that most of us take for granted. We rattle it off a...