These past couple of weeks I have been watching rug cleaning videos on youtube.1 I understand this may sound like watching videos of paint drying! Why sit and watch a twenty minute video of someone cleaning a rug? Yet the experience is surprisingly satisfying. The rug cleaner begins by unrolling the rug. We see all […]
“Out of the mouths of babes and infantsyou have founded a bulwark because of your foesto silence the enemy and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2 It is difficult to watch a movie with young children. Friday night is movie night in our house. This last week we watched Candleshoe (a good little movie that I had […]
“Daddy, will you forgive me?” These words from my four year old daughter were unexpected. Not thirty seconds earlier, her eyes shot daggers at me when I walked into her room. The last thing I expected was an apology. It had been a difficult evening. I could blame it on all the Halloween candy. Or […]
Over these past few weeks I have been preaching on Lazarus from John 11 and 12. After sitting in Lazarus’ company these past few weeks, I have come to believe that it is likely that Lazarus had a mental disability. Granted, we do not possess enough data to arrive at any kind of certainty. If […]
I only grew to love prayer once I expanded my definition of prayer. Growing up in the church the definition for prayer that I was given was “Talking to God”. “Just talk to God,” I was often told. This understanding of prayer is not wholly wrong, but it is unhelpful. One can define the ocean […]
A couple of weeks ago I waded into Idaho’s Salmon River to do a little trout fishing. I was told it was a well known spot and sure enough there were a couple groups already fishing and having some success. I made my way downstream of the second group, leaving about 100 feet or so […]
“So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” – Psalm 90:12, NRSV The Latin phrase memento mori means: remember, you will die. In medieval times, the saints would use this phrase as a critique against the vanities of the culture. When we remember our mortality we begin to realize […]
“Jesus reached for a little child, placed him among the Twelve, and embraced him. Then he said, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me isn’t actually welcoming me but rather the one who sent me’” (Mark 9:36-37, CEB). Sometimes I wonder if I have what it takes […]
Grace. The other day I was trying to make a left turn onto a busy road. A car stopped to give me space to merge. It was an undeserved gift. The driver did not have to offer me this space. It ensured they would get to their destination later than they would have otherwise. This […]
“It’s not size where we find our strength… We don’t judge strength by the numbers, but by where we get our strength which is God the Father.” – John Withum
The Local Pastor 