By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
Decades from now, if the world becomes saner through the Kingdom of God getting larger, we will have a conversation with our grandchildren or great grandchildren. And they may ask us something like this, “Tell us about the troubling times. How did it happen? What was wrong with people? Didn’t they see it coming? Why […]
What is it you want for your kids? I hope its more than they turn out happy, successful, and come home for the holidays. A few weeks back in the blog “Have Some Kids,” I quoted Psalm 127:3-5. The passage that speaks of children being “arrows in the hand of a warrior” and blessed is […]
Samuel Rutherford would have been a great pen pal. The 17th century Scottish pastor did his best work, like John Bunyan, with pen in hand while imprisoned for the gospel. His opponents tried to silence him. What they ended up doing was extending his ministry reach centuries through his letters. Spurgeon gave them the highest […]
Mr. Big Man lived in his Bubble. A better term would be Iron Dome. Nothing penetrated his world. Secure in his worldview, Mr. Big Man and a few cronies were well past thinking themselves the smartest in the room. They believed themselves the smartest ever. No, really. They did. Ever. So, Mr. Big Man declared […]
I was boning up on my C.R. Wiley this week, taking off the shelf my copy of “The Household and the War for the Cosmos,” given that he will be our guest speaker a week from this Saturday at our Men’s Breakfast. I was reminded of a quote from the book I found particularly insightful: […]
The Shadow was growing. Darkness was on the move; light seemed to be in retreat. A nervous fear gripped many. Some hid while others didn’t want to talk about it. But there were some that wanted to know what to do. But formerly trusted voices were silent. A few of those voices spoke out but […]
The “dummy light” comes on every 3,000 miles in our car. Time for another oil change. I appreciate the reminder but do not like it when the red oil can flashes red on my dashboard. But I better pay attention to it. After addressed, I enjoy hitting the reset button that makes it go away […]
[The following is chapter 15 in Pastor Rich’s children’s book, If They Could Talk: letters from those who were there. The book concerns the story of our redemption as it unfolds from Genesis to Revelation. “A Sheep’s Surprise” is the story of the angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth as found in Luke 2. The sheep […]
We are days away from celebrating Christmas. For many, the day is one of memories. Of being a child, of opening presents, of traveling “over the hills and through the woods to grandma’s house,” and so on. Foodies recall the smells and tastes of the season. Romantics remember the simpler days. Moms and dads recall […]
It had been some time since I had been to Seattle. I’m not a big fan of traffic, vaccine passports, and the overall mess of things in Blue Washington’s prized bluest city. But I was passing through this past week and found myself enjoying the lights of the season. One home just off the interstate […]
Weary from the week and frankly with nothing better to do, Sam went to bed. Besides, he had to winterize the home in the morning. If the weather cooperated, he might even throw up some Christmas lights. Something he hadn’t done for years. He hadn’t been real “Christmasee” for a while. He hadn’t been since […]
In years past political parties used to speak of their “platform,” a formal collection of their positions and aspirations. “Planks” made up their platform, statements and positions on individual issues such as tax rates, domestic goals, foreign policy, and so forth. In years gone by, civil debate and discussion took place between politicians and constituents […]