Categories
Bible Insights

Word Pictures of God and Our Relationship to God

In recent reflections, we have considered eight word pictures to give us insight into our relationship with God. While none provides a complete picture, each does offer a glimpse into one facet of who God is. We looked at: Putting all of these together, we can begin to get a sense of who God is […]

Categories
Bible Insights

The Fable about the Blind Men and the Elephant

Six Men Each Have a Different Experience When They Encounter an Elephant Consider the fable of six blind men encountering an elephant for the first time.They have no comprehension of what an elephant is, forming their own understanding based on touch: Yes, an elephant is like a wall, a tree, a spear, a rope, a […]

Categories
Bible Insights

God as a Potter

…And We Are the Clay The Bible contains many word pictures that help us to understand better our relationship with God. I have eight of them that I will share in the coming days. Note that each offers but a partial picture into God’s character and none is all-encompassing, but they are highly illustrative. Here […]

Categories
Visiting Churches

Evangelical or Charismatic Church?

Confusing Messaging I’m excited about visiting the last church on our list—or at least the final church we intend to visit. Our plans could change, and with God, they often do. I’m not sure if this church is charismatic or evangelical. An Independent Charismatic Fellowship Unlike last week, this church’s website provides a lot of […]

Categories
Visiting Churches

The Friendly Church

Retired and Welcoming This church has an innocuous name, giving no clue about who they are. But this is precisely why I didn’t dismiss it or the people who go there. Besides judging churches by their affiliation—or more precisely applauding their lack of a denominational connection—I realize I’ve also begun judging churches by their websites. […]

Categories
Bible Insights

God as a Vine

Word Picture: Vine Another word picture to help us better understand God is that he is the vine and we are the branches. We can view God as a vine, as our vine. In this, God is revealed as the source of nourishment, the giver of life, and the means of support, sustenance, and existence. […]

Categories
Bible Insights

God as our Father

A Word Picture of What a Good Dad Is Like The sixth word picture is God as our father and we as his children. Although not everyone had a good biological father—in fact all human fathers make mistakes in raising their children—our spiritual father, God, is without fault, raising us out of perfect love and […]

Photoshoot Outtakes

My photoshoot, one using a professional photographer, produced no usable pictures. So son Dan and I headed out to a park to snap some new photos. Some of them are scattered throughout this website. It wasn’t all work, though. We had some fun, too, as these outtakes suggest. They’re too goofy to use, but they’re […]

Categories
Christian Living

Do You Create for the Creator?

I’ve never considered myself to be a creative person, not like artists and musicians or architects and engineers. While I may be good at tweaking something existing, making something new is not how I’m wired. I’m definitely a left-brain thinker: analytical and logical, a processor of information and problem-solver. Yet, I’m also a writer—and writing […]

Categories
Bible Insights

God as our Groom

We Are the Bride of Christ The final word picture to help us better understand God, is perhaps the most startling and difficult to comprehend, even shocking. In this word picture, we consider him as the groom (the Bible often uses the word “bridegroom”) and us as his bride. As followers of Jesus, that is, […]