I was speaking with my dad earlier this week about his farm. Since I am the executor of my parents’ will, I wanted to see how much they thought their 53 acres, farmhouse, barns, sheds and farm machinery are worth.
We came up with a total of 1.25 million dollars.
My dad said he will never sell the farm. My mom heard 1.25 million dollars and called out, “I’ll sell!”
Halloween is coming soon. Hopefully our children will be able to go trick-or-treating this year. If we have trick-or-treaters, I encourage you not to do what the woman in Fargo, North Dakota did a few years ago.
Please understand that she had the best of intentions. But it didn’t come across that way. She decided she would give “moderately obese” trick-or-treaters a letter instead of candy. In that letter she encouraged the children’s parents to be responsible in helping their young ones to stay fit and ready for life.
The submarine doors slam shut. The klaxon horn sounds, and the skipper gives the order, "Dive! Dive! Dive!" Diesel engines firing, propellers whirling, they descend into the depths, safe from enemy attack. That was submarine life aboard the USS Finback stationed in the South Pacific Ocean during World War II. It was their tenth patrol, and so most of the crew was accustomed to this way of life, but for the five airmen that they had just rescued this way of life would take some getting used to.
God promised Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom if he found ten righteous people there. He did not find them. Sodom was destroyed. Do we ever wonder if God would be able to find ten righteous people here in America, the new Sodom?
It is clear that we are no longer living in a Christian country. Christianity is dying here, and dying rapidly. God promises that the Christian faith can never pass away from the world, but it can be rejected by people and nations. People cannot remove Christ from the universe, but they can remove Christ from themselves. A nation cannot chase the Church from the face of the earth, but it can chase Christ from its borders.
Our hearts break as we watch the videos, see the pictures, and hear the stories of what has happened in Kenosha. In a recent news story, Daniel Esposito, a Kenosha property owner, pointed to his four buildings that rioters and looters destroyed in the night.
He spoke into the camera with a dispirited voice sounding like it might break at any moment, “When we came on scene, it was just carnage. I just don’t understand why something like this would happen. It’s frustrating. I don’t understand why people do these things. Our society is just disappointing.”
Have you ever been in a storm that caused you to really be afraid? Perhaps it was the storm two weeks ago when the tornado sirens went off in Kenosha and Racine. The smart people hurried into the basement for safety. The guys went outside to look at the sky.
In a broken, sinful world, storms come, fears come. Think of the things we’ve faced the past 6 months of 2020. Covid-19. Shuttering schools and closing businesses. Protesting and rioting. The threat of murder hornets and now 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes are about to be released in the Florida Keys. Hey, it’s 2020. What could possibly go wrong?
The disciples were sensible. And sending the people home was the sensible thing to do. After all, it was getting late in the day and the people needed food. So dismiss them, Jesus. Tell them that’s all for today, go home and get a bite to eat.
But Jesus does not live within the boundaries of the sensible. It was not sensible to tell fishermen who had been fishing all night and caught nothing to go back out in the day when the fish went deep and try again – but Jesus did, and provided a great catch. It was not sensible to assert that a girl who had died was simply asleep – but Jesus did, and then showed it by raising her from the dead. In the same way, it was not sensible for Jesus to tell his small group of disciples when faced with a crowd of well over 5,000 hungry people: “You give them something to eat.” But Jesus did. Perhaps the disciples were getting used to that by now, as part of their continuing education, because they don’t object. They simply take what they have and give it to Jesus. Five loaves of bread and two fish. And it is enough. For anything in the hands of the Lord is always enough. And more than enough.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case brought by Calvary Chapel, a rural Nevada church. Calvary Chapel was looking to block enforcement of Nevada’s 50 person attendance limit on all places of worship – a rule which applies regardless of building capacity.
The attendance cap for Nevada churches has drawn righteous indignation from Christians since Nevada businesses, restaurants, movie theaters and casinos are allowed up to 50% capacity.
According to a new Gallup poll, more people say that wearing fur clothing is wrong than those who say that divorce, homosexuality or adultery are wrong. In that same poll, sex outside of marriage is more morally acceptable for adults, but 40% less think so for teenagers.
We are living in a time when people will feel guilty if they throw their empty water bottle in a trash can, but not feel guilty about living together outside of marriage. It is a time when people will say that there isn’t equality of pay for women, but they are the same people way say there no such things as binary sexes of men and women. It is a time when people will become emotional about the crazy cat lady with twenty malnourished cats. But those same people are not affected when a child is gunned down from street violence.
The first time the pastor saw George in church, George was in his mid-80s, with thinning silver hair and a charcoal gray suit. The pastor had gotten to know George over the past few years. Everyone enjoyed being around George. He was a pleasant, honest and respected senior citizen. He had lived a fascinating life that had taken him through the Great Depression and several wars. He was a widower twice over from cancer. Three times he had been on the receiving end of the call no parent wants to receive – news of losing a child.