Think About It

          2020 could very well go down as the Year of the Virus; yet, it might also be known as the Year of Suffering.  We are reaching the halfway point of the year and to be honest with you, it hasn’t been one of my favorite years.  With illness, economic struggles, civil and political dissensions as well as our own individual issues, I am not looking to repeat the first half of 2020 anytime soon.  The other day I was participating in a discussion about suffering and someone asked the question, “why”.  Why is there suffering?  It would go without saying that we all know that we are going to have struggles and challenges in our lives, but have you ever pondered why this happens?  While I will not dare to speak for God on this topic, I came across a couple of interesting passages that might give us something to consider.  In Psalm 119:71 David noted, “ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I m...

As a baseball fan, I am curious to see how the 2020 season plays out.  As of the writing of these thoughts, it appears that the season will consist of 60 games – which figures out to just under 40% of a normal season.  On the one hand, I am somewhat disappointed that we haven’t had baseball for the past two months, on the other hand I am intrigued by the shortened season.  Typically, at the beginning of each baseball season, hope springs eternal with the cry, “This could be our year!”.  Well, in all honesty, that could be true of a lot of teams that couldn’t get into the playoffs in a 162 game season.  All they have to do is weave together a little magic and who knows what will happen.  I have followed a lot of teams who were in contention at the 60-game mark who swooned miserably after the halfway mark.  Who knows – in spite of all the disappointment surrounding baseball this year, it could end up being exciting for a lot of people.  No, I haven...

I have been having air conditioning problems at my office lately.   It’s not too bad – expect when it gets bad (if that makes any sense).   I guess that what I am saying is that when things are cool, I don’t really think about doing much to fix the problem.   When I am home I don’t think much about the need to get things corrected.   However, when I am sitting in my office at the end of a warm muggy day, I wish that I would have done something to get things done.   Now, the reason I share this with you is as a reminder of other things that tend to escape our attention – until we really need them.   For example, take our understanding of the Word of God.   When things are going well, we really don’t feel the need to spend time studying God’s word.   When we are dealing with sin effectively, it is easy to sit back and rely on what we know.   However, what happens when we all of a sudden face a spiritual challenge – one that we may have never...

          The good news is that there are only six months until Christmas!   The bad news is that Christmas is still six months away!   I don’t know about you, but Christmas 2019 seems like “forever ago”.   I mean, way back then we had the freedom to travel around and look at the decorations without having to worry about how many people were in the car or gathered on the lawn.   We could go out and do our last minute shopping and not have to worry about whether we could actually fit into a store (usually at maximum capacity).   We were more concerned with a scarf around our ears than a mask covering our nose and mouth.   We could sing carols in a crowded mall and not give it a second thought.   I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the good old days ... like those way back in December.   I don’t know what to expect for Christmas 2020; but, I hope is looks more like December 25, 2019 than June 25, 2...

When I was a youngster in the 1960s and 1970s, there were a few things you could count on.  First of all, Walter Cronkite was going to be reporting the news every weeknight on CBS and second, there was going to be one major league baseball game on NBC every Saturday afternoon. It was not like it is today when you can pick and choose what games you want to watch, you just watched whatever was on because – well, because that was what was on.  I spent many a Saturday afternoon with Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubeck and my personal favorite Joe Garagiola.  I liked Garagiola because he was almost as funny as he was knowledgeable.  I leaned such gems as, “There is no defense against a base on balls.” and “The wind always seems to blow against catchers when they are running.”  Yet, maybe my favorite baseball quote from him was, “Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn’t even the best catcher on my street!” – this really makes sense when you realize that...

          Have you noticed how easy it is to tell people what to do?  In all honesty, it isn’t all that difficult to understand what we should be doing to be lawful – and even to be moral and spiritual – nor is it very difficult to express to people what they should be doing.  At times, we can even conjure up the strength to tell people that their own personal actions and beliefs are mislead (if not just flat out wrong).  Oh, and by the way, this has become even easier through social media because we can critique them without even having to face them.  The problem isn’t knowing what to do, it is doing what we are supposed to be doing.  While it pretty easy to have information, it becomes much more difficult to put it into practice.            I believe that, as Christians, we have a responsibility to help others improve their lives, but this begins with showing them how they are suppos...

One of the most often heard pleas over the past few months has been a call for change.  As we look back throughout history, this shouldn’t surprise us – it is a recurring theme.  Sometimes the call comes from a political party, other times it comes from those hoping to seek social change; there are even times when it comes from a group wanting to reform religion.  As the old adage says, “Change is inevitable”.  While the call to change is nothing new – nor is it always bad – there is one primary element that must be addressed in change and that is, for it to be effective, it must make things better.  Change, for change sake, is just change.  Changing things in a way that elevates actions or raises morays; now that is something worth exploring.  The temptation is to base change on agendas; however, what is really needed is true growth and development. The reason for addressing this issue is as a reminder that if we want any kind of change to be signi...