The Permanence of Truth
Last week, I wrote about the sticky situation that Tiger Woods suddenly found himself in, having all of his hidden deceptions quickly destroyed by news organizations and tabloids digging for the truth. In Proverbs 12:19, Solomon wrote, “Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.” Tiger–and to be sure, the rest of us–discover this proverb to be literally true. Often times when we lie, we find that our lies quickly fall apart when confronted with the truth. → Read more...
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Deception
I don’t really follow golf. Golf, to me, has always been one of those sports, like bowling and darts, that’s more fun to play than to watch. But even I, someone who doesn’t really know the difference between a sand wedge and a lob wedge, know about Tiger Woods and his innate, amazing ability with a golf club. People who don’t normally watch golf would watch him play. Television ratings for a tournament that Tiger is in are higher than a similarly televised tournament without him in it, something that has come to be called “the Tiger Woods effect.” → Read more...
I, State Your Name
Imagine this: You get pulled over by the police. As soon as the officer arrives at your door, you suddenly realize you don’t have your wallet with you. You have no way of identifying yourself. As your heart sinks, you realize it doesn’t matter how well you know yourself and how certain you are who you say you are, the police officer can’t and won’t ascertain your identity by your verbal claims of who you are. → Read more...
Wisdom Found on a Thread
I am of the firm believer there are no accidents in life. The things that we label coincidences are part of a divine plan that has been set from the very beginning when the world was spoken into existence. This plan–God’s plan–forgets nothing and includes everything, weaving large events and small decisions into a tapestry of human experience that spans thousands of years. As I’ve spoken briefly about in the past, I’ve been privileged to lead a small group of teenage boys from our high school youth group. → Read more...
Why We Fight
We don’t think of our daily life as a battle, but it is. The Bible clearly teaches that there is a spiritual warfare for all of the souls of humanity. You can’t get much clearer than Ephesians 6:10-13: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. → Read more...
Planning Our Time Now For Eternity
Everybody knows what it feels like to not have time for everything they want to do. There are so many books to read, movies to watch, places to explore, music to listen to, games to play, food to discover, not to mention all the things you need to get done at work and at home. Time feels like an enemy, always parceling out JUST enough minutes in the day or days in the week to get some things done, but not all of it. → Read more...
Community of Believers
In my reading time, I’ve been reading the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn. (A brief digression: This fantastic book is the subject of one of the classes premiering next Thursday as part of The Core. Pastor Howard will be teaching this class, using this book. If you’re interested, sign up online by visiting our website at www.calvaryop.org.) Heaven is a scholarly and fascinating dissection of what the Bible says about, well, Heaven. The author, Randy Alcorn, paints a beautiful and exciting picture of our future home that is well-researched and well-written with a lot of Biblical support in it. → Read more...
Labor Day
I’ve always been struck by the amusing irony of having a holiday called Labor Day where one was not supposed to be working. Curious on what the origins of the holiday were, I quickly browsed the Internet and learned that the holiday originated in Canada where parades held in support of Canadian labor movements led to an annual celebration. Inspired Americans began organizing “labor days.” This idea slowly filtered out to other states throughout the years until 1894 when President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority after a major strike that resulted in the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. → Read more...
It’s Not Just You and Me in America, Part II
December 17, 2009
Calvary
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Matt
A lot of times, through no fault of our own, we forget that there are other people in the world. Once we do that, we usually make the mistake of thinking that our experiences in America are replicated everywhere else. We often forget that there are countries that don’t have the same freedoms and blessings that we’re fortunate to have in America. One of the benefits of keeping up with the news and reading well-written news stories is that they brIng my attention to many things that I would not know about. → Read more...
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