An Evasive Answer?
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” -John 13:7 Jesus arose from the table, laid aside His outer garments, grabbed a towel and basin of water, and commenced to wipe His closet companion’s feet. The Lord knelt in front of Peter and was confronted: “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” (vs. 6). Our verse is a strange answer to the inquisitive query of Simon Peter. I think the disciple’s question was asked in a confrontational manner, and Christ was not being ambiguous, just cautious. in...
read moreThe Mountain’s Shadow
“And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. “And Gaal spake again…See there come people down.” – Judg. 9:36, 37 Zebul was talking to a man named Gaal. One of these guys had very poor eyesight. One thought maybe a shadow was men, and other other was sure it was men. One was hopeful and the other skeptical. One was alarmed and the other doubtful. As it turned out, Gaal was right, and a battle ensued, which he lost. He was removed from his position. Abimelech took Shechem and...
read moreA High-Water Mark
“What manner of man is this?” -Mark 4:41. Flood waters at Cincinnati passed the sixty-feet mark twenty-one times in the previous century. The last time was in 1997, and I well remember that tragedy. The city’s worst flood was January 26, 1937, when the river crested at seventy-nine feet and nine inches! This high-water mark is recorded on the back wall of an old church on the mighty Ohio River’s north bank. Mark 5 records three intriguing stories that appear as “high-water marks” of the Gospel. The tale of...
read moreThe Short End of the Stick
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in heavens.” II Cor. 5:1 A little girl and her father walked through a small cemetery, a shortcut from their house to the playground. She saw a man poke a rod into the ground and hang a wreath on it. “Why?” was her question to her father. “To honor the dead and make the area more beautiful,” was the father’s reply. “Would you that for me if I died?” she...
read moreThe Sparrow’s Mortician
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” -Matt. 10:29 Imagine that a young lad with a slingshot, the ancient equivalent of the modern day BB gun, fired off a round, and to his shock and amazement, the target was struck. Feathers flew, and the one that had always assumed flight fell to the ground. The boy, not used to success, honestly felt badly about what he had done. In his law-led home, a dead body meant defilement, and so he shunned to do any more than stare...
read moreThe Devil’s Tool Belt
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” -1 John 2:16 When I was much younger, I put myself through college by working in the lumber business. I also did a little construction work (emphasis on little). However, I did have a tool belt. Those leather tool belts could hold a whole collection of tools, from a hammer to a nail set to tape measure to pliers. Satan also has a tool belt, but it holds only three tools: “the lust...
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