Surrender to God – Pathway Journey

October 19, 2022October 18, 2022

Chaos of the World

There is so much that seems to be out of control. Chaos abounds in the world at levels we have not seen in many decades. We have the first sniffs of possible nuclear war since the early sixties. Eggs cost about forty percent more than a year ago. There is a determined assault on families, the foundation of ordered society. Violence against the innocent and death by drugs have increased with only nominal attention from the media and little outrage from leaders.

October 11, 2022October 22, 2022

Be All You Want To Be—NOT!

Picture the scene: A slick speaker on a well-lit stage with a captivated audience hanging on every word. He gracefully paces across the stage, looking over the group when he emphatically declares, “Everyone of you can be all you want to be!”

So, anyone in the audience can be an NFL quarterback or maybe an author with a book on the New York Times bestseller list? Okay, what about a rock climber, rodeo bull rider, or maybe an astronaut?

August 25, 2022August 25, 2022

Something To Live For

If you look around to the craziness around you, you could easy get depressed and say, “What’s the use?” People in every era and in most lives lived could say at one point, “What’s the use?”

Throughout every point of history there have been people who have given up even though they had it relatively easier than most people around them. The difference was their lack of hope and purpose.

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022

Mindset of Jesus

Why do you think like that? We all have a pattern or direction of thought. Our minds are directed from something and directed to something. We all have a worldview, meaning our thinking is based on a set of principles or from a certain standpoint.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church, he encouraged them to have the “mind of Christ”. If we think that having the mind of Christ is a far jump for us, consider that the Greek word in Philippians is a verb meaning to be minded in a certain way. It is like having our thinking oriented like Jesus or the direction of our thoughts and life is like Him.

July 27, 2022July 27, 2022

When the King Moves In

Jimmy Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He was a peanut farmer from Georgia, and he tried to be a little folksy relating to the common man. I remember a few details of his trip to California where he wanted to stay in a private home instead of a fancy hotel. [This blog is not about Jimmy Carter, please read to the end!]

July 14, 2022July 13, 2022

True Conversion

If I remember the story correctly, a man in conversation with the famous evangelist D. L. Moody, pointed to a drunken man on the street and said, “Moody, isn’t that one of your converts?” Moody replied, “Yes, that looks like one of my converts.” Implying that the work of man does not change an individual but only a true work of grace by Christ can convert.

May 26, 2022May 26, 2022

Where Do We Go From Here?

PRAY FOR THE FAMILIES OF UVALDE, TEXAS!

It is horrible thing when two neighbors have a quarrel, and one kills the other. It is so unthinkable when an evil person kills at random one or more who are innocent and vulnerable with whom he had no quarrel. It is unthinkable because normal, descent folks just cannot imagine why anyone would do such a thing—it is unthinkable.

There is the usual rush to put a “why” on the “what”. Most of us who have an ounce of compassion first think about those in our lives who approximate the same age as the victims, then a deep sick feeling wells up in our souls to the point we quickly change the channel in our mind to something less painful. We whisper a prayer for the hurting while our souls scream, “WHY?”

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022

Arrogance of Mankind

We find ourselves attracted to confident people but at the same time appalled at arrogance. It is a thin line from one to the other. As a person of faith, I find it unthinkable and sickening to see a person being arrogant toward God.

Recently when I was praying, in my prayer I was praising God for Who He Is. I almost became convicted with the absurdity of my prayer. How could I even imagine who God really is? His greatness is so beyond me.

April 19, 2022April 18, 2022

Half-a-Glass of Water

In another lifetime ago, when I taught school, I liked to break the study of subjects with a little humor or thought-provoking intermission. One day, I had a half of a glass of water, and I was asking the proverbial question, “Is this glass half full or half empty?”

April 13, 2022April 13, 2022

The Executioner’s Dream

A Story of the Executioner at Golgotha by Harry L. Whitt

After their scourging, we herded the three men through the jeering streets to Golgotha. The citizens of Jerusalem hate us only a bit less than we hate them. Being assigned to the occupation force of Judea is a good point for a possible promotion but today the city is set on edge. One of the three is a popular prophet to the common people but hated by the elites of their counsel.

Finally, we are out of the bustle of the city streets and bring the three miserable souls to the top of the hill, the place of the skull. The rock outcropping resembles a skull, and today it the place of execution for all to see.

The schemer who devised the crucifixion is to be congratulated. Nothing puts the fear and dread in occupied people as the crucifixion. It is an agonizing death to endure and to witness. I have killed countless men in warfare with sword and spear, but this is the most gruesome of all.

The poor creatures are hammered on the cross with hand forged spikes which tear flesh and sinew. We set their knees at a bend, so they can push up to catch a breath of air, and then hang by their arms until they began to smother. This reeling up and down until their last life fades from their bodies takes sometimes days. It is a wretched sight for wretched souls.

We put the so-called prophet in the middle as he is the most renown. The other two are common thieves. The middle one gets the most attention as some of his mourners are at the foot of his cross. Some say his mother is present along with mostly women and a few men. Why do they come to see? I do not know.

His scourging left his back nothing but ribbons of flesh with clotted blood. He cried out as we laid him on the splintered wood. Then we raised his cross and the jar of the upright going from empty hole to solid earth left him with a quiver in his body that took some time cease.