Communication – Pathway Journey

May 9, 2025May 8, 2025

Understanding God: Insights from a Lifelong Journey

I will soon cross over into my seventh decade of life. There are a few things I know now. I did not know them when my hair was brown and my energy was like the battery bunny. The main morsel of knowledge I now realize is how much I do not know. The body of knowledge seems to be as vast as the ocean and I am in a row boat.

I have read the entire Bible each year for close to thirty years. I understand many truths of the Bible but I still scratch my head about some things. It is the Word of God. How can a mere mortal like me understand the vastness and the depth of it? The short answer, I cannot. Yet, I keep studying and praying for more understanding of the Word of Life.

March 20, 2024March 19, 2024

What Voice Do I Trust?

The easy answer that even an eight-year-old Sunday school student would blurt out is “God.” Yes, that is true but how do you know if it is God or not? Even seasoned Christians struggle with this. I have heard the voice of God in my spirit so clear that it might as well have been audible. There are other times I question, “Is that God’s voice, my thoughts, or even the enemy’s voice trying to trick me?”

Listen to what the Bible says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NKJV).

A partial definition of discernment from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: “comprehend what is obscure.” In the spiritual sense, it is not a revelation of specific knowledge but a discrimination between two opposing points such as good versus bad, righteous versus evil, or right versus wrong. The testing of spirits is discerning if they are to be trusted or not.

Discernment only reveals if it is good or bad. It does elaborate on the why. This makes discernment bewildering because we want to know why. It is like a mother telling her daughter to stay away from a certain boy and the daughter asks “Why?”. The mother counters with, “I just a have a feeling about him.” You can imagine the smirk on the daughter’s face at this point. By the way, mature women seem to have more discernment than men, so sons and daughters trust your mom and husbands trust your wife!

October 4, 2023October 3, 2023

Barking…

Being perfect is not something I have ever professed to be. I try to be quite honest with myself about my weaknesses, yet often we can be blind to our own stuff. Every day when I read the Bible, I take notice of the rebukes of scripture as it relates to my fleshly notions. When I pray and spend quiet times with God, I try to listen to the still, small voice of Holy Spirit warning me and convicting me. My desire is to be right with God and in cordial relationships with other people.

I do not believe I am a particularly difficult person, nor do I enjoy confrontation as some people tend to do. I usually take a fair amount of gruff before I bark back, but occasionally, I feel shoved over the line, and I bark. “Woof!”

July 11, 2023July 11, 2023

Deception of Evil

Evil first hides in the dark. Then it appears in the morning, not as a direct enemy of good, but as an alternative. Then by afternoon, it tries to masquerade as good denouncing good as evil. By nightfall, evil seeks to destroy good so evil can prevail unhindered.

The Bible declares this deception, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 NKJV).

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023

Artificial Intelligence and Truth

In the last few weeks there has been a lot of hoopla about AI (artificial intelligence). The very name “artificial” intelligence is telling. Artificial lemon flavoring means it tastes like lemons, but it is not real lemons. Perhaps AI is not real intelligence at all. Anything with the fingerprint of man has the potential for a bad purpose even though it was brought forth with the best of intentions. It appears that AI in some cases is already fabricating lies (misinformation if you please).

July 7, 2022July 6, 2022

Words With Action

The words that a person speaks does not really define who they are but what they do is a true indicator of who they are.

Many in our present culture are under the illusion they can change the world by posting a Tweet in 280 characters or a Facebook meme while sipping on a mocha latte. It takes a little more action than that!

March 9, 2022March 8, 2022

Be Real

Our present world is one of symbols and images that are often removed from reality. Social media has photos that are filtered to project a prettier face. A short media post shows a perfect situation but a deeper look reveals a flawed reality.

We are swamped with available information at our fingertips. Much of the information is skewed to project a reality that does not exit. It is like the snake oil medicine of old, that promised to cure everything from cataracts to kidney stones but only gave a taste of medicine in the mouth.

December 1, 2021December 27, 2021

Nothing But the Truth

We live in a time when technology puts mountains of information literally at our fingertips. I hope you know that information does not equal truth. We even have a catchphrase nowadays called misinformation.

One of the ten commandments is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16 NKJV). We often paraphrase this as, “Thou shalt not lie.” God hates a lie and will hold us accountable for lying as evidenced by scripture, “…and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8b NKJV). It is evident that God does not like lying.

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021

Rotten Eggs

I have eaten real world eggs from foreign markets and homestead farms. They had never seen a refrigerator and they did not have a best-by-date on the tray. With unknown eggs, I usually do a water float test to check for bad eggs. With a float test, the best eggs remain on their side on the bottom, questionable eggs tip at an angle, and bad eggs float to the top.

July 15, 2021July 14, 2021

Head-Nodders

“Virtue signaling” is a catchphrase in the current cultural confusion. In the last few years, it has been exhausting to keep up with the new terms and re-definitions. I often wonder if some folks even know what they are saying or if they are just parroting the latest mantra from their side of the fence. By the way, virtue signaling is not a right or left problem, it is a human problem.