A bell buoy rings only during storms. The beating of the waves and wind bring out the music that is within it, so too do trials reveal what is inside a person. – J. C. Ferdinand Pittman How true this was for the trials and beatings of Jesus that preceded His crucifixion. It’s easy to […]
Entries by Robert Shaw
Wrestling With Christ
In the days of the Roman Emperor Nero, there lived and served him a band of soldiers known as the “Emperor’s Wrestlers.” Fine, stalwart men they were, picked from the best and the bravest of the land, recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater. In the great amphitheater they upheld the arms of […]
Invitation To Friendship
In the book, The Insanity of Obedience, its author, Nick Ripken writes: Betrayal within the faith community is a special concern, and it is important enough to demand specific attention. Consider this scenario: Expectations were high. After years of struggle and prayer, a house church was emerging among a resistant Muslim people group. Lives had […]
Turn The Tables On Me
In 1517, an obscure Catholic priest named Martin Luther placed his life in God’s hands when he nailed his 95 theses, his 95 arguments against the Catholic church, on the door of the Wittenberg Church. There was nothing wrong with nailing pages to the door. Everything was posted there for everyone to read. It was […]
Who Do You Say I AM?
In the world of technology there is a new development called Hyper Sonic Sound (HSS). The inventor, Elwood “Woody” Norris, has engineered sound waves to travel like a laser beam for about 150 yards. This allows sounds to be heard by a person in a particular place but not by those immediately around them. You […]
Prepare the Way
Yad Vashem (“a memorial and a name”) is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the dead; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and Gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need. The name “Yad Vashem” is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah: “[To] […]
Breakthrough!
Nik Ripken, in the book The Insanity of God, records the story of perseverance in the light of dark circumstances: Dmitri was a Russian pastor leading a house church. As townspeople heard of the powerful manifestations of God taking place among the worshipers, more and more crowded into Dimitri’s home to hear about Jesus. One […]
Hidden Treasures
There was a very poor man down in West Texas in the 1930s who barely made a living on a very poor sheep farm around Odessa and Midland. His name was E. L. Yates and he was so poor that he was contemplating bankruptcy and allowing the bank to repossess his farm. He was constantly […]
Faith’s Enclosure
The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the […]
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 […]
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 […]
