Marching Forth!

At the close of this mornings service, I felt led to read from Ephesians 4:20-24 :  " But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holines s."  The emphasis of the passage is that to put on the new man, we first must put off the old man.  Following Christ is more than imitating Him outwardly:  it is a transformation that must take place in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the classic movie "The Christmas Story," Ralphie is a boy who desires more than anything to have a genuine Red Ryder BB Gun.  There is a memorable scene where his little brother, Randy , is heavily wrapped in winter clothes befor...

WARNING!  This post may contain spoilers concerning a jolly man with a beard clothed in red often associated with Christmas. As far back as I can remember, Santa Claus has always been a fictitious character along with the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny.  For the large majority of my childhood I was raised by Christian parents who valued honesty even when it came to traditions.  I remember even to this day a negative experience I had in kindergarten.  As Christmas drew near, I was discussing with a girl my age about whether Santa Claus was real or not.  The discussion escalated into an argument.  The little girl marched me right into the kitchen where both our mothers were conversing.  "Mommy, is Santa real?"  The eyes of the woman narrowed on me with a fierce look that unnerved me with its intensity.  Her words were even harder to understand.  "Of course, sweetie.  Santa is real."  I wonder if my jaw dropped in amazement a...

No one enjoys the sight of emaciated children, malnourished from lack of food.  While some of us have only seen pictures of such suffering, starvation and lack of clean water is a reality for millions in the world today .  It is heart-rending to see the vacant stares of the starving, too weak to swat the flies from their eyes and mouths.  Quality food and water are necessities for life, and for some they have become an elusive luxury.  God created our bodies to produce hunger pangs that alert us to our need to eat.  If our bodies do not receive the nutrients required, the body will feed on stores of fat and even muscle tissue to survive, leading to organ failure and death. Physical starvation is a tragedy only eclipsed by spiritual starvation and death.  What does it profit a man to have all the food and clean water in the world and lose his own soul?  The body is temporary and the soul is eternal.  Through a prophet God said in Amos 8:11-12:...

People love happy endings.  They want to see good triumph over evil, the right guy to get the girl, and the villains to receive the justice they deserve.  A movie that does not end "happily" in the eyes of the viewers is wholly tainted.  I feel I am a bit of an anomaly because I don't need a happy ending to enjoy a film.  I actually appreciate a director who will risk his movies being unpopular because he or she is willing to to throw aside the cliche to make a point.  Perhaps this ruins the fantasy escapism people seek when they choose entertainment.  They would rather a movie end their way, even if it is predictable. As I'm reading through Killing Fields Living Fields by Don Cormack, there are glorious testimonies among the darkness that shine with Christ-like brilliance.  When Cambodia was in the throes of her genocidal revolution primarily from 1975 to 1979, the amount of suffering of Christians and ordinary citizens is hardly thinkable.  I...