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2020-02-26 to 28 Pictures: Charleston, South Carolina

One of the few upsides of having to cancel our Spring Break trip last March at the onset of the pandemic is that we are "stuck" with a rather large voucher from one of those discount airlines. Last autumn, Tricia and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia and had a...

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

John 3:16 is one of the most well known and reassuring verses in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16 (NIV) The following is a little craft I threw...

2020-03-01 Pictures: Lyndsey’s College Signing Day

This afternoon Lyndsey made it official, signing her letter of intent to play college basketball for the Hiram College Terriers starting next year. While she made the decision and committed to Hiram before Christmas, she has been looking forward to this day since her...

2020-02-13 Pictures: Lyndsey’s 18th Birthday

I am little behind on posting photos. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weekends ago when we got a chance to celebrate Lyndsey's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe that my little girl is officially an adult. It was nice to have the family all back...

What is DOCTRINE?

Introduction I love working with kids, and I love teaching them hard concepts in ways they can understand. To that end, for years I have been working on a dictionary of theological terms for kids and teens. In sharing those definitions, there seemed no better place to...

If You Want It Done Right

In all likelihood, you know how the phrase ends: If you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF! This is a bit of a mantra for me, and frankly, something that I struggle with daily both in leadership and in my Christian walk.  In theory, this is easy to accept. ...

What Does God Hate?

This is the little and humble post that started it all. I happened to be reading through my Bible, and this passage impacted me so much that I posted a little blurb about it on Facebook. That was July 28, 2008, and I've been writing and sharing ever since. (Maybe...

Finding the Pharaoh In You

Pharaoh I am currently participating in the One Year Bible challenge from Kidmin1124.com.  This week, we are reading through the opening chapters of Exodus which set forth the Israelite slavery in Egypt and how God sent plagues to force Pharoah to let his people go.  As I read through the first nine plagues that God sent on Pharaoh:

  • Turning the Nile to Blood
  • Frogs
  • Gnats
  • Wild Beasts
  • Pestilence
  • Boils
  • Hail
  • Locusts
  • Darkness

one thought continued to run through my head:

Why did it take so much?  Why didn’t Pharaoh get it earlier and avoid the later plagues?  Why did he not listen to God and avoid the tenth plague – death of the the firstborns? It seems so obvious.  God wasn’t going to relent.  Surely there would be more coming if the their first couple of plagues didn’t work.  How many times was it going to take before Pharaoh “got it?”

Then I started to realize something.  I am no different than Pharaoh!  I have a heart which can be just as cold and stubborn as his.  I spent thirty years of my life denying the God who created me despite all of the “signs” God had put in my life.  To this day, I am not the obedient son that I want to be.  I still turn from him in times of trouble.  I still resist those things that He would have me do.  In the end, I am not that different from Pharaoh.

It is easy to look at characters in the ancient stories of the Bible and think, “I’m not like that.  I would make a better choice.”  I wouldn’t have sold my brother into slavery!  I would have fought the giant!  I wouldn’t have lied about who I was.  I wouldn’t have bowed down to that cow.  I would have taken the promised land no matter what the spies said.  I wouldn’t have denied my Lord, or I wouldn’t have sold him for thirty pieces of silver.  It is easy to read those stories and neglect one very important point – we are those people.  Pray today that God would speak to you through these stories to show you how you are denying him.  Seek his hands and his face.  Draw near to him and he will draw near to you!

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