Gates

open-gate-wooden-fence-green-meadow

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


I’ve opened a door before you that no one can close. You don’t have much strength, I know that… Revelation 3:8

A dear friend of mine sent that text to me at a time when I most needed it. That’s the way our Father works, you know—acting and speaking incognito through our friends. 

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Total Control

earth-in-hands

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
[God] treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
—William Cowper

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD;
It is like an irrigation canal:
He turns it wherever He will.  Proverbs 21:1

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Looking Up

LookingUp

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.  Psalm 5:3

“Poor little bird, you can’t fly!”
“No, but I can look up!”
—George MacDonald

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When In Doubt

youth-group-lessons-on-doubt

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


John called two of his disciples to him and sent them to Jesus, asking, “Are You the Coming One, or should we look for another?” Luke 7:19

John the Baptist was languishing in prison with no end in sight. His ministry had ground to a halt; his followers had scattered. 

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Wasteful Grace

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While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


Gloriously wasteful, O my Lord, art thou!
Sunset faints after sunset into the night,
Splendorously dying from thy window-sill—

—George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul

From [Jesus’] fullness we have all received, grace in exchange for grace.  John 1:16

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What We’re Here For

cupofcoldwater

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


Carolyn and I have been watching a British television series about a stolid, plainspoken Chief Inspector and his brash, young assistant who protect and serve a small village in Northumberland. It’s a murder mystery set in 1964 with some significant asides about moral integrity. Continue reading

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Reverse It

uno-reverse-card

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.  1 Peter 3:8,9 

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A “Woke” Church

AlarmClock

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


I ate my Cheerios this morning to the beat of an old Bob Dylan song. (Carolyn was listening to Dylan’s album, “Slow Train Coming.”)

When you gonna wake up; when you gonna wake up;
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

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Teaching a Pig to Sing

recording-the-pigs-noises

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


The kingdom of God does not come through talk but through (divine) power.  1 Corinthians 4:20

Ancient wisdom advises us that we should never try to teach a pig to sing because (1) pigs can’t sing, no matter what we do, and (2) we will only annoy the pig.

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Paragoric

Paragoric

While John and Marti are on retreat, our good friend, Dave Roper will be providing our Catches each day. For more on Dave’s works, click here.


These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God… they have been a comfort to me.   Colossians 4:11

Paul’s noun “comfort” is a word that occurs only here in the New Testament. It’s a medical term that he may have borrowed from his companion, Dr. Luke.

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