Marching Forth!

After our family eats breakfast every day, we read a daily devotional called " Keys for Kids ."  Today's story was about a group of boys who made the habit of cutting the corner of a block by walking across a lawn.  At first there was no evidence of their path on the turf, but toward the end of summer there was a clear trail of damaged grass.  This brought to mind my own lawn.  Mail carriers in Australia are called "posties," and instead of delivering mail on foot they ride small motorbikes.  Because there is no fence around my lawn, the postie has made a habit of cutting the corner of our property.  As I mow the lawn I cannot help but notice the deep ruts his tires have cut when he traverses the lawn in wet weather.  The more he cuts the corner the deeper the track goes. Our habits, whether good or bad, have repercussions.  If a man habitually uses tobacco, his body inside and out will present evidence of that fact.  In the same way, if so...

It's wonderful to witness the power and provision of God at work in another person.  It's even more incredible when you have firsthand experience yourself of God speaking through His simple yet miraculous ways.  Sometimes a simple impression on my heart through reading the Word or a coordination of events undeniably confirms just what I've been thinking or feeling.  This week I had a lovely reminder of how God will provide for me and my family. It began with God challenging me to trust Him in the area of finances.  We all know that God "owns the cattle on a thousand hills" in our brains, but we can falter when it means giving by faith.  As I sought the LORD's direction through prayer concerning giving, I came across an appropriate passage in 2 Chronicles 25.  King Amaziah had hired men from the tribe of Ephraim as mercenaries and paid them 100 talents of gold, a kingly sum.  A prophet of God visited Amaziah and told him not to allow the men of Ephrai...

" Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's ." Psalm 103:1-5 It is God's will that sin would not reign in our mortal bodies.  Because of this fact it is reasonable to conclude it is God's will that sickness, a product of original sin, would not reign in our mortal bodies either.  While we agree to the first statement our faith can waver with the second.  How can this be?  What happens when God's Word seems to contradict our experience?  Should we trust what we see with our eyes or the naked Word of God? Our God is a God who forgives all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, and redeems our lives f...

An article on CNN.com caught my interest yesterday written by  Kaj Larsen.  In the waters of San Diego (my hometown), the U.S. Navy trains dolphins and sea lions to counter the threat of combat divers and marine terrorist attacks.  Quoting from the article, " While it seems strange that in this digital era, there's such a seemingly lo-fi approach to guard the Navy's most sophisticated and expensive assets. But according to Rothe, nothing in today's hi-tech world can compete with these mammals' biosonar abilities ."  Five times the CNN reporter tried to swim across the bay both on the surface and using scuba gear, only to be found and tagged by either a dolphin or sea lion.  It's amazing that bottlenose dolphins have natural biosonar which is far superior to any device engineered by man. I find it astounding that most people in the world believe that dolphins evolved this "biosonar" from some other species, developing these incredible abilit...