Wisdom A, B, and C

highway cloverleafs

Our interstate road system gets a lot of mileage (pun intended) when a single Exit number is tagged with alpha characters to create as many as 4 different exits: A, B, C, and D.  It can get confusing when the exits don’t appear in alphabetical order, or when the order…

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How Pedigree Inoculates Against Responsibility

man with bandage on arm covering inoculation site

In the days of Jeremiah following the first wave of Jewish deportation to Babylon, the remaining Israelites in Jerusalem were admonished by the prophet to obey the Law of the Lord and turn from their evil ways.  God spoke clearly through Jeremiah about the coming disasters of sword, famine, plague,…

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Sitting in Judgement

two women gossiping

Pigpen, a character in the “Peanuts” cartoon strip by Charles Schultz, is characterized by a cloud of dust and dirt following him around.  At times in the raising of our boys, I felt as if Pigpen lived in our home.  But in recent years that dust cloud has come to…

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Just Testing

silversmith's tools

Proverbs 17:3 reads, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.” Solomon is saying in this proverb that everything of value must be tested to uphold that value.  In the case of precious metals, the testing is heat, fire.  But because man often…

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I Did That

boastful-man

Success is revered in our culture.  It is even more admirable when individuals have overcome great obstacles and disadvantages to achieve it.  Dr. Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon, who ran in the 2016 primaries for US President, makes my short list.  He faced multiple hardships associated with his parents’ divorce such…

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Grace Is Not License

police-stop of red sports car in desert

Moses, the leader of God’s people, was not a stranger to opposition, having faced off with Pharoah 10 times before being given permission to take the people out of Egypt.  Sadly, opposition continued in the desert with friendly fire from his own brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, who felt…

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One Way or the Other

whale

Most people know the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish.  While many choose to look at it as an imaginative object lesson to teach obedience and the futility of running from God, in actuality, God has done stranger things than to allow a person to be swallowed…

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Time Out

Parental disciplinary tactics have changed somewhat through the years.  Spanking or paddling was most popular when I was a child.  Speaking to that is the comedic account of corporal punishment employed by one father that elicited fear and respect from all six of his children.  That is contrasted sharply by…

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