The First Commandment ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Mark 12:31 Scripture: Mark 12:28-34 Whenever you read “the scribes” in the Bible, imagine a small-town lawyer. They were the local experts on the law as a means of structuring community life – marriages, divorces, contracts, mortgages, etc. Some assumed powerful positions as administrative assistants to the ruling class. In … Read More

Tell Me a Story He did not say anything to them without using a parable. Mark 4:34 Scripture: Mark 4:1-9, 33-34 Once upon a time. Those four words just might be among the most powerful in the entire world. Some of my earliest memories as a boy contain a variation on that potent phrase. My mother came home one day … Read More

Remembering My Father Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23 Scripture: Mark 10:35-45 When I remember my dad, I picture him best outdoors hammering or gardening or downstairs working in his cluttered workroom, stuffed with fascinating tools and gadgets. His hands were always busy at a task or project—sometimes building … Read More

Who Are You Defending? At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 Scripture: Luke 14:7-14 When Kathleen’s teacher called her to the front of the grammar class to analyze a sentence, she panicked. As a recent transfer student, she hadn’t learned that aspect of grammar. The class laughed at her. Instantly … Read More

The Kingdom of God The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mark 10:14 Scripture: Mark 10:10-16 A man’s mother had been committed to many things over the course of her life, but one that has remained constant was her desire to see little children introduced to Jesus. Of the few times she was witnessed displaying disagreement publicly, all … Read More

Blocked Prayers When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:25 Scripture: Mark 9:38-50 For 14 years, the Mars rover Opportunity faithfully communicated with the people at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After it landed in 2004, it traversed 28 miles of the Martian surface, … Read More

Servant’s Heart Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all. Mark 9:35 Scripture: Mark 9:30-37 Cook. Event Planner. Nutritionist. Nurse. These are just some of the responsibilities regularly performed by modern moms. In 2016, research estimated that moms likely worked between 59 and 96 six hours per week doing child-related tasks. No … Read More

A “New Man” Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1:23 Scripture: Colossians 1:3-8 As a group of teenagers visited a home for the elderly in Montego Bay, Jamaica, one young woman noticed a lonely looking man at the end of the room. He appeared to have … Read More

Slack Tide He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Mark 6:31 Scripture: Mark 6:7-13, 30-31 I find it fascinating to consider the pull of the moon on our great oceans, which creates high and low tides. At the changing of the tide, there is a brief period of time called “slack … Read More

A Feast of Love I am the living bread that came down from heaven. John 6:51 Scripture: John 6:56-59 In the Danish film Babette’s Feast, a French refugee appears in a coastal village. Two elderly sisters, leaders of the community’s religious life, take her in, and for fourteen years Babette works as their housekeeper. When Babette comes into a large … Read More