PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Psalm 1 “Blessed is the one… who meditates on his law day and night.” (Psalms 1:2) What is the key to a blessed (or happy, or full) life? Ultimately, the key is living as God designed and created us to live. Adam and Eve (and us with them) have tried to find happiness…
Author: Norm
Restless wanderers
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Genesis 4-6 “You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:12) The word ‘lost’ in christian circles seems to mean doomed or ‘going to hell’. But a child ‘lost’ in a mall is not doomed but desperate, needing help. I see all humanity – including myself – in this lost condition….
Taking care of God’s garden!
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Genesis 1-3 “The Lord God put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15) God has created an amazing, beautiful world, and put humans in charge of it. Our world is a screwed up mess, not because of God but because of humans. There is…
Standing with the victims!?
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 2:13-18 “Rachel weeping for her children… because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:18) The above picture is a Jewish school in the Netherlands. The quote in the right box is Jeremiah 31:15, ‘the children are not here’. This is a reference to the Jewish children sent to Nazi death camps to die. Matthew…
Finding Jesus through other religions?
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 2:1-12 “We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2) I am curious how pagan astrology pointed these men to a Jewish messiah? Here God works through another religion (likely Zoroastrianism) to draw people to Jesus. I see this story as more about God seeking the…
How we make disciples?
Being with God with Jesus!
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 1:18-25 “They will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:23) When I talk about Jesus, I am not talking about just another human being. Jesus was fully human, like us, and yet He was more. Matthew is stressing this uniqueness of Jesus in this paragraph. He was uniquely conceived…
Will you join me?
I would love to have you join me in reading the bible and posting a few sentences of thoughts/reflections in the comment section at the bottom. Using this blog is a great way to provide encouragement and accountability. Read this post to see why I post my bible reflections online. I have set up the…
Created for good works!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 11:12-19 “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” (Mark 11:14) Jesus is not being ornery just because He is hungry. This story fits with what Jesus is about to do in the temple. A barren fig tree was a very symbolic for Jews, a sign of God’s judgment. “I will…
Welcome to the family!
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 1:1-17 “Whose mother was Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba]” (Matthew 1:3,4,5) So often when I come to a list of names in the bible, I skip over it. It’s hard to think how the Lord can speak to me through a list of names. But if you pay attention to this…