my burg

Think of what it means to not have the Lord as your Shepherd. Here are the words of Australian evangelist John Chapman (aka "Chappo") upon his retirement... Throughout the Bible runs the wonderful theme of God being the shepherd of His people and of the wonderful security which this brings. In Ezekiel, when the leaders of Israel will not lead God's people into godly ways, God says, ''I myself will be shepherd to my people''. I suppose the best example of this is Psalm 23. The Psalmist lists the benefits of this relationship with God. He wants for nothing. God leads him in the path of righteousness. He satisfies him, leading him in green pastures and by still waters. He lifts him up when he is down. He restores his soul and, even in the face of death, he is still secure. ''When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,'' he says with confidence, ''I will fear no evil''. In the presence of his enemies, God comes ...

Every year about this time -- Kentucky Derby season -- I'm reminded that we believers are to be about more and more,  rather than less and less. That is, we are to keep on keeping on with greater faithfulness (not less), rather than looking for reasons to do  less and less.  The race in this life is not over until it's over. W e are not to set the cruise control and coast along without aspiration to finishing well.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers...      "...may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you."  (1 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV) "...we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more ."  (4:1) "...you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, br...

One of the contentions held against Christianity is its exclusiveness.  We are being too narrow and exclusive to say that this one way is the only right way to approach God.  Doesn't this give offense to other cultures and other religions? It depends on whether we are considering Jesus' accomplishments merely as the work of a man within a culture for people within a culture, or whether this is something much greater.  When Americans first walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."  In such momentous historical events, one does not say something like, "one small step for an American, one giant leap for Americans."  (Or Russians, or Pakistanis, or any nationality...)  Armstrong and Aldrin were Americans, but what they were doing transcended any nationality and was an accomplishment representing -- and celebrated by -- all of humanity.  That moment transcended any particular culture. ...

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"  (Luke 9:24-25 ESV) Here are some of my highlights from the closing chapter of God in the Whirlwind, by David Wells... There is a center in our lives, and in both cases from this center comes an energy, a drive, to see life from the viewpoint of our center and to do certain things... This truth is fundamental to Christian faith. Either we are “enslaved to sin” (Rom. 6:6) or, through Christ, we are “slaves to righteousness” (Rom. 6:19). We are either “slaves to impurity and to lawlessness” (Rom. 6:19), or, as Paul said of himself, “a servant of Christ Jesus” (Rom. 1:1). It is the one or the other. Everyone is enslaved to something. Our choice is simply to whom or to what. This servitude of sin originally worked itself out by constricting or “contracting” the human vision. Edwar...

When fishes flew and forests walked      And figs grew upon thorn,     Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born.   With monstrous head and sickening cry     And ears like errant wings,     The devil’s walking parody        On all four-footed things.   The tattered outlaw of the earth,     Of ancient crooked will;  Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still.   Fools! For I also had my hour;     One far fierce hour and sweet:     There was a shout about my ears,     And palms before my feet.   "The Donkey" by G. K. Chesterton, from The Collected Poems of G. K. Chesterton (Dodd Mead & Company, 1927)   [Photo of Paramo donkey from Wikimedia Commons.]