Marching Forth!

When it came to baseball, my dad was a fan of "small ball."  He didn't coach players to swing for the fences and slug home runs:  he taught kids to be disciplined at the plate by laying off balls, to swing at strikes, and hit the ball where it was pitched.  Take that outside pitch to the opposite field!  Dad enjoyed a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a batter being thrown out because the runner had been moved from second base to third more than a booming double off the fence.  In his view, making good contact with the baseball ("Down and hard!" he would shout) and hitting line drives was better than fly balls that could be easily caught.  Baseball has changed a lot since I played as a kid, but the principle of learning the fundamentals and doing the small things well is valuable to this day. As a member of a team, each player has a limited amount of control.  The most important thing is to focus on doing your part.  This could be throwing the ball ...

We do not need to exert ourselves to grow weary, for we can become weary simply due to existing!  We can become weary of eating the same foods, habitual activities, due to an illness or repeated failures.  Feelings of weariness can lead to frustration, annoyance, anger or giving up.  Jesus did not begrudge the weary, for He bid those who were weary and heavy laden to come to Him and find rest for their souls in  Matthew 11:28 . While physical weariness is a fact of life, our perspective and priorities can provide fortitude to resist aspects of mental weariness.  Solomon said in  Ecclesiastes 12:12 , " And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh ."  Reading and study can be wearisome to our eyes, bodies and minds, yet we need not be resigned to weariness in doing good when our God provides rest and strength.  In 2 Thessalonians 3:13 Paul urged Christians not to be wea...

While pride is championed according to the wisdom of this world, God exposes it as sin that always leads to more sin--and ultimately severe judgment.  Concerning Sodom and the surrounding cities He destroyed, God identified pride as the first sin on the list through the prophet in  Ezekiel 16:48-50 :  " Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  50  And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit."    One could easily make a case (from a biblical perspective) that pride was a sinful root from which other sins sprang. Pride is insidious, and Webster defined it this way:  "p roperly, lying in wait; hence, watching an opportunity to insnare or entrap; deceitful; sly; treacherous; 2) intended to entrap ."  Pride is a skilled shape-shifter, able to be ...

Scripture shows belief is not a straightforward binary, that you either believe or you do not.  It would be convenient if this were the case, but at the same time any our unbelief would surely doom us!  The truth is, people who believe in God's existence, the truth of God's promises and His power to fulfil them do not always walk by faith in God.  A man who brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples of Jesus exclaimed after they were unable to help him in  Mark 9:24 :  " Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief !"  While all things are possible to him who believes in God, this man recognised nagging doubts and fears within himself he could not shake.  Without God's help, we cannot even believe--for without Him we can do nothing ( John 15:5 ). I read a passage in John 4 today that also illustrates how people can have degrees of belief that fall short of saving faith.  The smallest...

As a kid, I thought there was medicine for every malady.  I didn't realise antibiotics were prescribed for bacterial infections like strep throat and not for viruses like the common cold.  I came to understand taking antibiotics for viral illnesses can lead bacteria to grow resistant against them and be rendered ineffective when needed.  Typical treatments for viruses involve management of symptoms with rest, hydration and pain relief.  In the case of a cold, the nagging cough, runny nose, chills and fever are merely symptoms of a sickness.  These symptoms are not the illness itself, and often it takes the skill of a doctor to identify and treat the root cause of our illness or pain. I remember years ago pointing out an obvious depression and cracked gyprock on a wall.  The response was, "Oh, that was a hole we fixed."  No doubt an attempt was made.  Since I have experience with patching holes in gyprock, however, a closer look revealed cracked gy...

When we observe people making careless, forgetful or foolish choices in the Bible, it means we too could make the same mistakes--likely have already done so.  God's word is able to discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts, clearly identify sin and exposes our fleshly propensity to practice it.  I have learned by experience I can identify with the villains in scripture because all people spiritually share sinfulness in common in its countless forms.  Spiritual maturity enabled Paul to say without exaggeration he was the "chief of sinners," and thus when God's people observe sinfulness in scripture it always hits close to home, having been written for our instruction. Yesterday I read the passage that followed a miraculous victory God provided over the Philistines by Jonathan and his armour bearer who trusted Him.  After King Saul built his first altar to sacrifice unto God, we read in  1 Samuel 14:36-37 , " Now Saul said, "Let us go down after the Phili...

I have been a Los Angeles Chargers supporter from my youth growing up in San Diego through all the ups and downs--and historically there have been many more down seasons than up.  To date they have only been to the Super Bowl once and were completely drubbed by the 49ers on the global stage.  After enduring losing seasons in bunches, I look at early-season losses and injuries as adversity, a crucible which can forge a winning team's identity.  Better to have a heavy dose of reality and the need to work and improve rather than becoming arrogant with pride through easy success.  A team that never gives up and claws back to win games is a side I would rather follow and be a part of than those who give up, stop putting forth effort, and whinge for penalties.  Many teams that start well grow disillusioned and flounder when they begin to fall from the top of the standings and lack character and resiliance to recover.  And if the team turns out to be a cellar dwel...