Rapture Forecast?

By -
Hm, how to dress on the 21st?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

After Orlando: A Believer’s Response to Tragedy

By -
Image
The massacre of fifty people at an Orlando night club is a horror story. Unless you are emotionally numb, you ought to feel incredible sorrow when hearing about the victims. And as you learn about the gunman's perverted views on the value of life, you should feel some sense of revulsion. But is it enough to feel anger or empathy? Isn't there something we ought to do? How should believing people respond to tragedies like the one in Orlando? What should our words look and sound like in the wake of disaster? How do we bear witness to the hope of Jesus Christ when folks are torn by grief and fear? Here are three biblical responses to tragedy. 1. Be present and be silent. Job's personal disaster would make headlines in our world today. Job was a leading figure in his society, one of the wealthiest and largest employers around. Yet in one fell swoop, Job experienced a terrorist attack and natural calamity rolled into one. He lost all his family (except his wife),...
Read more

Seven Vices & Virtues: Sloth and Diligence

By -
Image
Think of Gilligan's Island as a parable based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Many folks think the creators based the series on these classical vices. ( Here's one example .)  A three-hour cruise turned into a seeming eternity. They were hopelessly marooned on a deserted island.  One of the most common story lines across the show's 99 episodes is a potential rescue. And in almost every case, one character unwittingly or incompetently destroys any hope of leaving the island. It's Gilligan, the figure who most readily represents this week's vice: sloth . Many in our contemporary world equate sloth with laziness. But the ancient vice of sloth, as brought to us via John Cassian from the desert fathers, comes from the Greek work acedia . This word is best translated as apathy or avoidance. This is what Cassian wrote about a theoretical monk faced with the danger of sloth ( acedia ): "He must also contend on both sides against this most wicked spirit of acedia ...
Read more

In Memoriam of Larry Locke, My Father

By -
Image
My dad Larry Locke took his final breath this afternoon. He was in the comfort of his own home in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was as beautiful a spring day as Middle Tennessee can provide. Lovely breeze. Chirping birds. Blooming flowers. But Dad had been unable for weeks to notice the glory of God's created world. He was ready to go and be with the Lord forever. Over the last 2+ years, Larry had struggled with dementia and previously undiagnosed depression. A lifelong runner, he had never spent a night in the hospital prior to this sickness. The loss of his vitality was a blow to all who knew and loved him. While his first hospitalization returned him to a level close to his old self, subsequent declines and hospital stays left him a shadow of the man we knew. His time for this life would number 76 years. Larry Locke was born in 1942 in Shelbyville, Tennessee. His father, W. H. Locke, owned a small diner. His mother, Pansy Worley Locke, had done office work but as a mother was mos...
Read more