In Joel’s book of prophecy, God declared: “I am in the midst of Israel . . . . My people shall never be put to shame” (2:27). But earlier in the chapter God promised to fight against His people. A plague of locusts would descend like a ravenous army on the nation (vv.2-11).
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It happened more than 30 years ago but it still hurts. During a period of spiritual rebellion, I ran into a young man I had introduced to Christ. He was stunned to discover that I had walked away from the Lord and was no longer the person he had known. It is one of my most regretted experiences, and I still pray for an opportunity to make it right with him.
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While visiting a US Civil War battlefield in Virginia, I was struck by a story about an army unit that arrived too late for a major battle. The troops had stopped to loot a camp abandoned by their enemy. By taking what they felt they needed, they could not accomplish their mission.
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As a young man in the late 1600s, Edward Teach joined the crew of a British ship that was headed to the Caribbean. Much later in his nautical career, he managed to capture a merchant vessel and turn it into a 40-gun warship. Teach soon became known as Blackbeard—the most feared pirate in the hemisphere.
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A children’s book called The Chance World describes an imaginary planet where everything happens unpredictably. For example, the sun might rise one day or it might not, and it might appear at any hour. Some days the moon might come up in its place. One day you might jump up and not come down, and the next day find gravity so strong you can’t even lift your feet.
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Whenever my husband and I leave the house, our dog Maggie goes sniffing for old shoes and dirty laundry. She surrounds herself with what she finds and then sleeps with it near her nose. The familiar smells comfort her until we return.
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The rubber plant I bought for my wife Dorothy added a touch of life to our home. But one morning its leaves were dropping as if in a state of dejection. I wondered what happened.
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In 1845, the ill-fated Franklin Expedition sailed from England to find a passage across the Arctic Ocean.
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I had not worked in my yard for several weeks, and I was amazed at how quickly weeds had sprung up and taken over. Weeds don’t need tending; they seem to love to sprout up for anyone who just lets things go. A bed of beautiful flowers, however, takes watering, feeding, and of course, weeding. Flowers thrive under the care of one who is not afraid to get dirt under his fingernails.
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People seldom use the word sin anymore. When we do something wrong, we say we showed “inappropriate behavior” or made a “tactical error” or “mistake.” We may even say, “I have done a bad thing.” It seems as if people have come to believe in their own innate goodness.
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