Marching Forth!

This morning I was reminded of a surprise revelation when I went to the doctor about shoulder discomfort.  While playing baseball, I stumbled and rolled onto my shoulder in tagging out a baserunner hung up between third base and home.  I ended up separating my shoulder and damaging the AC joint when I landed heavily on it.  There was no question what I did that hurt myself, but I was quite surprised after the doctor looked at scans. The x-ray brought to light I had--at some point prior without my knowledge--sustained a Hills-Sachs fracture of the shoulder.  I could only theorise what had happened.  Maybe it happened when I injured my shoulder throwing a baseball during high school or at a point during my working career.  Looking at the scan it was clear there had been trauma to the shoulder, even though I could not say when it happened or what caused it.  Healing had taken place but the evidence of the break remained. My situation illustrates to me the...

I was impressed to read the testimony of Hannah and how praying to the LORD made an immediate impact in her life.  For a long time she had been provoked by her husband's second wife who pitted herself against Hannah as her rival.  Hannah's adversary Penninah had children and Hannah was barren, and year after year she heaped scorn upon Hannah concerning something she could not change.  She wanted children, and as the years dragged the continuous provocations wounded Hannah to the point she lost her appetite. During her annual trek to the tabernacle with her family, Hannah wept before the LORD in prayer.  She prayed God would giver her a son, a child she promised to lend to the LORD all his days.  Eli, the high priest at the time, observed her praying and assumed she was drunk because her mouth was moving but no sounds came forth.  One might think with all Hannah suffered--and then to be falsely accused by the high priest as a drunk--would only have added to ...

" If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. " Colossians 3:1-2 In a sermon I heard many years ago, the pastor urged his hearers to consider how our perspective should be ordered as children of God.  Rather than being at the mercy of our circumstances, emotions or feelings, we are to remain grounded in the sovereignty and goodness of God in every season of life.  Unlike a ship adrift that is carried by wind or currents, we have an anchor for our souls by faith in Jesus Christ our Saviour.  We can see the waves and feel them beating upon us, yet we can remain immoveable, fruitful and abounding in the work of the LORD. He used an illustration of the difference Jesus makes in our lives, not to pump us up that we can feel "in control" during the storms of this life, but to know that whatever happens God remains on the throne ove...

The book of Ruth is a beautiful and heartwarming passage of virtue, kindness and redemption.  The most compelling and romantic fairy tales written by people fall infinitely short of its perfection.  This historical narrative is no work of fiction dreamed up by man but is the word of God that leads us to wonder and marvel over the Redeemer of lost sinners, Jesus Christ. The plot of the story is simple:  Naomi went to Moab to avoid a famine in Bethlehem-Judah with her husband and two sons, and she later returned widowed, childless and bitter accompanied by her loyal daughter-in-law named Ruth.  This industrious woman went to glean in a field which turned out to be owned by a rich older man named Boaz, who was unmarried, and he also happed to be a near relative of Naomi.  He was aware of Ruth and her relation to Naomi, and he did everything to generously extend kindness to Ruth. Boaz urged Ruth to only glean in his field to protect her from unsavoury men.  He ...