Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27 NIV) Richard Swenson, M.D., author of the book MARGIN wrote: Something is wrong. People are tired and frazzled. People are anxious and depressed. People don’t have the time to heal anymore. There is [...] [READ MORE]

A recent message from 2^nd Samuel 6 touched on the holiness of God expressed in judgment for irreverent acts. In that Old Testament story God struck down Uzzah for touching the Ark of the Covenant. In a similar story in the New Testament God struck down Ananias and Saphira for fraud in the Church (See Acts 5). This message understandably generated some questions about God and the gospel. One friend summed it up well, “I thought it was all about forgiveness, that God would forgive anything. So I’m having a hard time understanding. Can you explain?” I offered my friend a copy of Mart De Haan’s excellent article on the subject (reprinted at the end of this email). But I’d also like to add a few thoughts of my own. [READ MORE]

It was February 10, 1976, very late in the day and Dad was overdue for dinner again. It was nothing new. His rather flexible notions of time management often made him late for dinner. Combining that trait with a bright blue sky, a seventy-five degree day and a friend that wanted to go flying with him made a missed dinner almost inevitable.  Mom would keep his plate warm in the oven and we would eat without him.  [READ MORE]