Author Scott Sauls recounts: There’s a Groucho Marx skit that I love because I relate to it so much. In the skit, Groucho is having a conversation with a friend, in which he goes on and on (and on and on …) about himself. In the course of his continual chatter about himself, he slips into […]
Entries by Robert Shaw
John Hancock
Often when we ask for a person’s signature, we will call it their “John Hancock.” This is because of the fifty-six signatures on the Declaration of Independence, one stands out above the rest. That signature belongs to John Hancock. He was the first to sign the declaration and he signed it in a large and […]
Choices
Dear Sir: I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put “Poor Planning” as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day […]
Under the Surface
In November of 2016, The Christian Science Monitor wrote an article titled Mt. Saint Helens’ Cold Stone Heart. The article went on to say that: The 1980 eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens was the deadliest volcanic event in the history of the United States. But contrary to popular belief, there is no lake of […]
Has God Fallen Asleep?
In the 1999 movie “Instinct,” Anthony Hopkins plays an anthropologist and primatologist, Ethan Powel, who is being held in a maximum security prison for the critically insane. Cuba Gooding’s character is an ambitious psychiatrist, Dr. Theo Caulder, who is asked to evaluate Powel. At one point in the movie, during a private session, Powel overcomes […]
Abandoned By God?
In the movie, ‘Faith Like a Potato,’ a farmer with anger management issues becomes a follower of Christ in South Africa. Surrendering His life to Jesus leads him to become a follower of His Word, and this leads him to take a bold, step of faith. Needing to bring in money for his family, he […]
Don’t Pass Me By
A man recounts a time when he had to enter the military while the draft was still in place: I didn’t enlist in the Army — I was drafted. So I wasn’t going to make life easy for anyone. During my physical, the doctor asked softly, “Can you read the letters on the wall?” “What […]
Call of the Wilderness
In this short excerpt from a journal entry by the late priest Henri Nouwen, the author describes the need to make a significant change to his life during a very difficult period in his ministry. Nouwen senses the need to have a wilderness experience, free from the daily routines and busyness of modern life: You […]
Positioned For Presence
Two paddleboats left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges made, and a race ensued. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through […]
Tents, and Tables of Ascent
We are told that when John Huss was arrested and informed that he would be burned to death for his faith, he purposely practiced holding his hand over fire to prepare for his final test. He burned himself in preparation. He wanted to be faithful to the end. The question I would like to explore […]
Vision
Sunday many of you responded to the call to seek God to catch fire through His Spirit. As a testimony to your desire to take off your old way of walking in order to turn to see God, and catch fire from the Burning Man – Jesus, you placed your shoes on the altar, praying […]
I Seek God!
Chuck Colson in his book, Kingdoms In Conflict, wrote: Have you not heard of the madman who lit a lamp in the bright morning and went to the marketplace crying ceaselessly, “I seek God! I seek God!” There were many among those standing there who didn’t believe in God so he made them laugh. “Is […]
What Are You Dying For?
Once John Maxwell’s leadership word for the day was Warrior. He said that a warrior is best defined as the character, William Wallace from ‘Braveheart’. Wallace had a cause that he was so committed to that he was willing to die for it. In essence that is a warrior. His life’s cause earned him the […]
Two Altars
Before the days of natural gas grills the majority of us simply stacked charcoal briquettes in the form of a blackened Mayan pyramid. This was followed by liberally dousing the “steps” of the pyramid with copious amounts of lighter fluid. Opening a box of Penley Strike Anywhere Matches, or Ohio Blue Tip Matches, we retrieved […]
Humility of Hunger
By the year 2030 30% of the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa will have the highest rate of undernourishment in the world. In the documentary, The Most Dangerous Ways To School, Massai children, ages 4-11, are recorded as having walked from 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles), one way – each day, in order to attend school. Many […]
Going Outside the Camp
When Jesus was filled with the Spirit following His Baptism He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to pray and fast in preparation for the launching of the Kingdom of God. You could say that he went outside the camp. Question is, What does this phrase mean and how does it apply to […]
Sounding the Depths
Ephesians. 3:18-19 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; 19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without […]
Needing Nothing
Revelation 3:17 For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing… When we are hungry we recognize we are so by our stomachs alerting us to the fact our body needs fuel. This usually comes in the form of pains, tiredness, low blood sugar, and inappropriate noises […]
Stick in the Mud
John 5:19 Now it was on the Sabbath day that Jesus mixed the mud and opened the man’s eyes. You have heard the idiomatic saying, “don’t be a stick in the mud,” which refers to someone who is considered boring, due to unpopular or outdated beliefs. Oswald Chambers writes: “One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own temperament, (personality). We […]
Wanderlust
Have you ever been hiking through the woods and couldn’t wait to get to the next clearing? Have you ever seen a mountain you just had to climb? Then you may have been experiencing what some would call “wanderlust.” Wanderlust is defined as a strong desire to wander or travel the world and can be expressed […]
Deeper
Ezekiel 47:6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. How deep are you spiritually? Our depth or lack thereof is simply the result of “spiritual reality.” Oswald Chamber states: “If you realize you are lacking, it is because you […]
Launch Out Into the Deep
Luke 5:4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Yesterday’s message challenged us to launch out into the deep of the unknown but how many will let loose of the dock and leave the harbor of comfort, and security? This morning […]
Non – Essential
Essential is defined as absolutely necessary; indispensable; pertaining to or constituting the essence of a thing; noting or containing an essence of a plant, drug, etc. being such by its very nature or in the highest sense; Many of us winced when our governor deemed alcohol and abortions essential, but not church. Yet we must […]
Aiming to Please
C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity: Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we […]
3 Times A Year
Three times a year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed (Dt. 16:16 AMPC) Tomorrow night we are going to celebrate Pentecost […]
Thank You’s, and Returning To Church
Good morning Bethany Church family! I just wanted to send out a thank you to everyone who has brought or bought meals for our family following the birth of our grandson. We have eaten really well. (I’ve gained back the weight from the fast) As you can tell from the picture above he is growing […]
Love Life Day of Prayer & Fasting
This week is our Love Life week of prayer and fasting. Today we specifically pray and fast for the Lord of Hosts (Angelic Armies) to bring an end to the abortion industries abuse of women’s bodies, shedding of innocent blood, and the marketing of body parts from aborted fetuses. If you haven’t done so – […]
Fig Leaves and Face Masks
1 Peter 4:17 For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe orobey the good news (the Gospel) of God? Through the stay at home orders of our state governors, and social distancing we […]
Your Opinion of God
Romans 5:5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. (AMPC) What’s your opinion of God? What’s your opinion of Jesus, His Word and His promises? Do your words of praise match your opinions of Jesus and His […]
