Pastor’s Blog (Page 45)

Bailout or no bailout, these are tough economic times. We’ll likely be seeing a lot more signs like these. Too bad, because when doors close it’s the people who pay the steepest price. There was once a king who decided to close the doors. King Ahaz decided he’d had enough of God, so “he closed the doors of the house of the Lord.” 1 By this symbolic act he shut more than…

September 14, 2008–Most people fled Hurricane Ike’s massive, destructive forces. But Willis Turner & his wife decided to ride it out. The two held on inside a home that Turner’s wife said “vibrated like a guitar string.” “It was like an atomic bomb going off. Right after the eye passed, whole houses came by us at 30 miles an hour…

The famed architect-designer, Stanford White (1853–1906), once shocked an editor by the high price he charged for a magazine cover design. Although he had spent much thought in preparing the design, its classic simplicity caused his customer to wonder at the bill of $500—a goodly sum at the turn of the 1900s. “I’d say that was a pretty steep price for such a plain…

He really poured on the coal for the steep climb. His clickety-clack pace surprised everyone, even him. Somehow the load felt lighter. He wasn’t really even out of breath. Power to spare. No breakdowns. Everything was humming along nicely for Little Blue Engine King Uzziah.1 “he did right in the sight of the Lord…” “he continued to seek God…” “God…

Once Amaziah became king of Judah, he mustered his army and found he had 300,000 choice men fit to handle spear and shield.1 But this was less than a third of what his forefather Jehoshaphat had, and no doubt he felt vulnerable. He decided to hire 100,000 reinforcements from neighboring Israel with 100 talents of silver. 100 talents of silver was something like 13,500…

If only Ahaziah had followed his grandfather Jehoshaphat’s example. There’s no record that Ahaziah ever “inquired of the Lord.” Quite the contrary. All we have is a three-fold repetition of the opposite: “…his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.” 1 “he did evil… like the house of Ahab, for they were his…