Pastor's Blog (Page 31)
Let your Light Shine
Julio Diaz is a social worker in his thirties who lives in the Bronx. As he stepped off the subway one night, a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. “He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If…
A Tale of Two Passions
A Tale of Two Passions 1. Recently on “Chopped,” a cooking show that pits culinary artists against each other in a competition to find the top chef, one of the contestants related the high cost of becoming an exceptional chef. He recounted a realization he’d had early on: he would not be able to achieve greatness in his career and succeed in his…
Gopher Wood?
Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. (Gen 6:22) Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him. (Gen 7:5) When God tells us something once, it’s significant. But when He says it again, we need to really perk up our ears–He’s alerting us to something of particularsignificance. So let’s hone in on this…
Corrupt
How sad. In Genesis 1:31 God “saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Yet, a mere ten generations later in 6:11-13, “the earth was corrupt in the sight of God… God saw the earth and behold it wascorrupted, because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” This word “corrupt” refers to something being…
Violence
Dear Woodland Hills Family, What was it like just before the flood? God tells us: “the earth was filled with violence” (Gen 6:11). The word “violence” in Hebrew is hamas. It means “violence, wrong.” Arabic also has the wordhamas but in this language it means “enthusiasm.” In yet another twist, hamas is also an acronym…
Accomplishments
Dear Woodland Hills Family, You may be immune to this sort of thinking. I am not. It happens whenever I step back to take a look at my life’s accomplishments. It’s especially acute when I compare my accomplishments with others’ (yes, I know comparisons are dangerous). Inevitably, these look-backs produce varying degrees of discouragement. The voice…