A Gray-Beard's Thoughts
A Gray-Beard's Thoughts
This is an article I wrote for our church newsletter this past week: The Gospel for Feb. 1, 2026 is Matthew 5:1-12, Matthew chapters 5-7 are called “the Sermon on the Mount”: Our reading today contains the portion often titled…
Some thoughts in the Advent and Christmas season — putting yourself in the story … A little pondering about our stories of Advent and Christmas … we tend to see Biblical things from our cultural perspective … Let us try…
“Why does God allow things that apparently make no sense and leave us questioning, even when we believe we are seeking His will and guidance?”The Bible has many stories where “God’s choice” did not make sense to men: Note 1:…
Jesus is quoted in the Gospels using the the Greek word “merimnaó” = “To be anxious, to worry, to care for …”
We encounter trials, tribulations, hardships, and obstacles that do just not seem “fair”; these may be in relationships, events, finances, or health. We reflect back on the age old question, “Why does a ‘good’ God allow bad things to happen?”…
Conclusion (additional layers of the onion are addressed in the expanded version that follows): Looking at the exterior of the onion (so to speak), it appears to be true; in the Matthew 15 dialog between Jesus and the Gentile woman,…
From a POINTS TO PONDER item by Chuck in our local Church Newsletter — We just celebrated Easter. For “believers” that is a glorious thing. However, what things haunt the thoughts of those struggling “to believe”? Do we help or…
Ponder these things — Betrayal: An abandonment or violation of trust by someone close to you. Have you ever been betrayed by a friend or loved one? What about a betrayal by someone in leadership: Our current era would certainly…
As I pondered this Advent and Christmas season, I focused on looking for the small things in our Biblical stories, through which God reveals the really big things, sometimes in subtle ways. So, how does one seek clues about the…
OKAY, this will offend some: that is OK. It is exploration time, so — Ponder NOT a GOD that demanded a horrible death for His Son to appease God, but rather a God who loved us so much that HE…