Devils Lake Journal – Page 20

All My Soul

In pre-marriage counseling, I told our Pastor, “I really hate folding socks.” It’s still true today. Socks are annoying. You have to locate both of them, and then, more often than not, you have to turn them inside out. Maybe it’s my innate laziness, or maybe it’s that I don’t really care ifContinue reading “All My Soul”

All My Heart

“Why does God want my heart?” It was a simple question from a young child in Sunday School. But it stumped me. I had to hunt for the answer. The Greatest Commandment begins with, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and it is a recurring theme throughout Scripture. But whyContinue reading “All My Heart”

Where the Lord is at Home

So many children’s books have to do with home. From Little House on the Prairie to A House is a House for Me and from Sweet Home Alaska to The Hobbit, the search for a place of comfort and belonging is universal. So many of the children I have discipled have noContinue reading “Where the Lord is at Home”

The Verbs of Sin

Verbs stick out. They help your mind connect with what you are reading or listening to. Have you ever noticed the verbs of sin? Crouch, ensnare, separate, consume, harden, heap, and bring forth death make me want to run the other way. However, when sin is still only a temptation, I oftenContinue reading “The Verbs of Sin”

Bringing Holiness to Completion

Between Russia invading Ukraine and covid issues, problems fracture us. There are plenty of opinions but very few solutions. What if we could find all the solutions and be made whole? Isn’t that what the Ancient Greeks were looking for when they visited the Oracle of Delphi? Columbus searched for answers on everyContinue reading “Bringing Holiness to Completion”

The Big Game

Tomorrow is the big game. The Bengals square off against the Rams in Super Bowl LVI. What do you think quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford will be doing in the morning? Stafford, quarterback for the Rams, recently told the press, “I think you treat it just like every other game when it gets toContinue reading “The Big Game”

Obstacles or Clear Paths

I love to snowshoe. We have had a lot of snow this year, and I have been laughing as I watch our two dogs- Baxter and Ranger- trudge through the snow. When they fall in over their heads, they whine and bark for help. I often haul them up out of theirContinue reading “Obstacles or Clear Paths”

Racial Reconciliation and Me

Some of my ancestors were slaveholders. Do I need to confess the sin of their active participation in the system of American slavery? My immediate reaction to this question has always been, “No!” because I don’t confess all the times they lied or cheated; however, reading John Perkins’s book One Blood: Parting Words to theContinue reading “Racial Reconciliation and Me”