Treasure In Clay Jars

I happened to be at Sea World in Orlando today and was able to catch the killer whale show titled "Believe". It was a terrific show with wonderful divers sharing the big pool with the magnificent and talented Orca Whales. As I watched the show, it was an awesome opportunity to marvel at God’s creative magic, as I visually took in the wondrous evidence of His creative powers! Seated at the very top row of the stadium, I was able to take in not only the whales and performers, but the entire packed crowd in the stadium as well. As I canvassed the scene, my thoughts drifted to the reality that the one true God of the Bible created every living thing that my eyes could survey. The beauty and majesty of these huge and beautiful black and white creatures; the earnestness and enthusiasm of the people watching the show, the talent and passion of the divers and performers who were swimming and co-mingling with the whales. Even the tiny little birds that perched at the edges of the w...

Presidential candidate Barack Obama presents himself as Christian. As a candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election, it has become a pre-requisite for people to know that you are a “person of faith”. In the last election, it was widely reported that Democratic candidate John Kerry lost because the Bible belt voted overwhelmingly for President Bush. So in 2008 we have Mr. Obama clearly stating that he is a “man of faith”. Therefore (presumably), the Bible belt should be comfortable with him. As such, it was with bemused interest recently that I read about Mr. Obama while addressing a decidedly non-Christian audience in San Francisco, was taped saying (and I paraphrase) - that because of hard times, bitter small town voters “cling to religion among other vices..” as a result of government abandoning them and allowing their jobs to be shipped elsewhere. I find it revealing and very much consistent that a candidate like Mr. Obama would view “religion” (which is the politically sanitized wa...

I was speaking with a co-worker today (who represents himself publicly as a Christian) and he happens to be telling me a story of an incident that occurred recently on a plane ride. During the flight, a man seated across from him had a heart attack. To make a long story short, the plane was diverted from it’s ultimate destination and the stricken man was removed (alive) from the flight. My co-worker in finishing up the story remarked…”all I could do was pray for him”. When he said that, it brought to my mind similar sentiments that I have heard from other people, usually stated such that there was nothing ‘more’ that they could have done, so prayer was all that was left. Now I know that my co-worker had nothing but the man’s best intentions, and he offers to pray for people’s circumstances quite often, so this post is certainly not meant as a critique (far from it), but it does raise a point that I think is emblematic of a persistent ‘negative’ on the part of some of us Christians. Why...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is a day of remberance of one of the most significant men in American history. By the sheer force of his will, intellect, love for his fellow man and (by today’s standards) an uncharacteristic adherence to the Word of God, Dr. King blazed the trail for the social and economic improvements that African Americans now enjoy. He rightfully should be honored by an entire nation whose sense of self was made better due to his efforts. As I read the transcript of his 1968 speech “I See the Promised Land” it was remarkable to feel his eloquence and humility as he addressed a public audience for the final time the day before his assassination. His was a movement grounded in the ways of God. His call for social justice for African Americans was based on the spiritual law of God that all men are created equal in the eyes of God, and as such should be treated equally without regard to race. But I am sure that the freedom that Dr. ...