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I have always considered the apostle Paul’s speech to the elders of the church in Ephesus (Acts 20:17-38) one of the most touching and moving speeches in all of the Bible.  Obviously, it does not rank above our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7) or Peter’s sermon on Pentecost when the church was established (Acts 2) or Stephen’s sermon resulting in his martyrdom (Acts 7) or even Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill in Athens (Acts 17).  Yet, for sheer pathos, to say nothing of its sobering content, few if any speeches in the New Testament would outrank Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders.   The background to the speech lies in the fact that Paul is completing his third extensive preaching tour and is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be arrested simply for preaching the gospel of Christ.  In a hurry to get to Jerusalem, Paul sends word to the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet him in the little seacoast town of Miletus....

My Heroes   I grew up loving superheroes.  Superman was my favorite.  I’m sure at one time I had a shirt with a big “S” on it and donned a red cape and pretended to fly and bulldoze through any obstacle or enemy that got in my way.  The thought of being able to fly and have super-human strength – these were enough to keep my imagination captivated as a child.   Over the last several years, one superhero movie after another has appeared in cinemas throughout the world.  With all of the special effects and incredible cinematography, the superheroes depicted in the movies match if not surpass my childhood fantasies about their superpowers.  After all, my images of these superheroes came from comic books and cartoons.   As I have grown older, I still have heroes.  But my heroes today are not like the superheroes that I venerated and imitated as a child.  My modern day heroes can’t fly and they don’t have s...

Survivor On November 5, 2017, the little community of Sutherland Springs, Texas, was devastated and the world was horrified when a gunman shot and killed 26 people and wounded 20 others in the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. Yesterday, January 11, 2018, the still-traumatized community had a reason to celebrate: a young survivor of the tragedy was able to return home. Five-year-old Ryland Ward was shot five times during the massacre. He was found beneath his stepmom, Joann Ward, who died protecting him. "I was just checking for survivors, and I felt a little tug on my pant leg," said Rusty Duncan, a firefighter with the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Department, who was one of the first rescuers inside the church building after the shooting. "I had no idea what it was. I looked down and a little hand was coming from under somebody." It was Ryland. Duncan carried Ryland's limp body outside and began treating his wounds before he was lifted into an ambula...

  God made us humans to seek Him and find Him:   Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22 So Paul, standing in the...

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Will You Get What You Want? Read the following piece by Keith Wishum and see if it causes you to recall that toy that you once really wanted for Christmas.  Do Wishum’s conclusions match your own? I got what I wanted for Christmas! More years ago than I care to calculate, way back when I was 8 or so, back in the B.C. era (before computers), I wanted a special toy for Christmas.  Wanted is too weak.  I craved.  I coveted.  I had to have a Johnny 7 gun. The 7 was the ultimate imaginary killing machine.  It fired seven different ways - single shot, machine gun, rocket launcher, grenade thrower, and others I have long forgotten.  Not only did the 7 make awesome noises, it came with projectiles that it really fired.  What more could a boy want? Long before Christmas, I hinted.  I begged.  I pleaded.  I despaired.  Knowing that my parents were highly practical people, I had little hope of ever holding a 7 in my hands.  A b...