Men of the Morning Prayer Line

 “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” Matthew 5:40 KJV “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and. take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” Our society is so obsessed with lawsuits. Coffee cups now warn us that coffee may be hot. I see prescription drugs, the plethora of warnings make me feel as though we’re all taking this stuff at our own risk. Yet, we all know the warnings are to protect the pharmaceutical company in such a litigious society. From big issues to small annoyances, it’s clear that lawsuits are a part of normal culture. As a nation, we simply want to protect and defend our rights – so what’s the problem? In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says that for the Christian, this culture of fighting legal battles against one another isn’t the best way. Instead of focusing so much on defending our personal rights, we should be striving to follow God’s ways. In other words, we’re to focus on living radi...

 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”  – Matthew 5:5 Do you have it? Do you want it? What are you willing to do to get it? What am I talking/writing about? Power. Influence. Control. The misuse of power is a constant reality. People have a tendency to sacrifice anything or anyone to attain and hold onto it. Think about the number of relationships that have been damaged because of one person’s relentless quest for power that led him or her to take advantage of their authority or influence.  How much disappointment and heartache could be avoided if those in power exercised it with wisdom and restraint? The most powerful person to ever live is Jesus Christ. Why? Because He was God in the flesh, who could have commanded whatever He wanted — yet, Jesus chose to live the life of sacrifice and service, as exemplified on the cross. In the process, He accomplished exactly what He set out to do – to become the Savior of the world. Because of His life, death, ...

Then He said [to Elijah], ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the LORD’s presence.’. At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.”  1 Kings 19: 9-3 Just like a good action suspense flick, can’t wait for the next scene.   I don’t like to wait. You probably don’t either. To be fair, it’s not all our fault, right? Part of our hatred of waiting involves the culture we have been born and raised inside of. Everyone, everywhere, and in everything is constantly looking for a more efficient way to do whatever it is they’re trying to do. We want faster wait times at the airport. We want traffic solutions. We need people to answer our email or text message quickly so that we can move onto the next task.   This is pr...

We live by faith, not by sight.  2 Corinthians 5:7 I don’t understand myself.  I bet you don’t understand you either. I simply can’t explain why some days I wake up feeling vivacious and enthusiastic about life. While on others, I feel slightly irritable, lethargic, and apathetic about my responsibilities. This happens more often than I care to admit and seems to occur without rhyme or reason. After 50+ years, this phenomenon still baffles me. But this is not the place to discuss the complex physical or psychological aspects of moodiness. The question I’m wrestling with is: How do we follow Jesus on days when we don’t feel like ourselves? The bottom line is that we’re called to follow Jesus every day, no matter how we feel. When it comes to following Jesus, there are no days off.   But when I have an “off-day” and don’t feel like my usual self, 2nd Corinthians 5:7 acts as the anchor in my soul, preventing me from being tossed to the extremes on the waves of emotion. ...