Today is Part Three in my “King of the Mountain” series.  The overarching idea here is that too often we try to elevate ourselves to positions of authority and influence at the expense of other people.  Today, we will be looking at and contrasting a couple of people from the…

Yesterday, I began a series of blog posts that explores the concept of “King of the Mountain”.  I explained that this was a favorite childhood game of mine and related it to the “games” we sometimes play, even as adults. Being “King of the Mountain” as a child meant that…

One of our favorite games to play as kids was “King of the Mountain”.  While not one of us knuckle-heads was actual royalty, and the “mountain” was really just a small hill near my home in central Kansas, we would spend hours trekking up and falling down said hill.  The…

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water’ ” (John 4:10, NIV). Jesus had a holy habit of extending hospitality and hope to the least…

“When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw (Jesus) eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ ” (Mark 2:16, NIV). It bothers me when, in a social setting, I see someone sitting alone.  I’ve witnessed…

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness…” (Isaiah 61:10, NIV). There’s a man in my town.  I drive past him on a regular basis, too uncomfortable to…

David and Joseph are key characters from the Old Testament of the Bible.  Each of these men played a major role in advancing the kingdom of Israel and continuing the lineage of the Messiah.  For one of these leaders, however, a moral lapse threatened to hinder God’s plan of redemption.…

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32, NIV).…

“…weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5, NIV). As I write these words, we are in a difficult time in the history of our world.  The coronavirus pandemic is upon us, causing fear and uncertainty, sickness, even death.  What better time to turn to…

God is still in control. Listen to my podcast of this devotion here. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging”…