December 19, 2019
Year 4, Day 353
Readers offering close attention to these Pages will catch my high regard for biblical maturity as a life pattern for daily experience and integrity in both natural and spiritual context. When translators of the King James Version of Scripture came to the word reflecting the growth of persons toward the ideal they chose the English word, mature, for the purpose. Many persons live self-guided from the example of ideal models they perceive have done well – the reach toward better life formation. This higher life is best modeled for us in Jesus Christ, but there are others. Our reach should exceed our grasp. To seek to be like unto the life of Jesus is not to say we will, in… Read more
December 12, 2019
Year 4, Day 346
In the Junior Series for this date we discussed the legitimacy of using the term fundamental in describing what is basic to the understanding of that we seek and learn. Fundamental to water, as we experience it, is that two atoms of hydrogen (gas) are joined in some way to an atom of oxygen (gas) and we conclude with water (liquid). That is basic (fundamental) to the compound. But we can do many things with water after we gain that liquid in purity. We can sweeten it, give aroma to it, boil it, freeze it even offer it in a different form and call it: heavy water. (One of my college instructors, a Christian, was a part of the team… Read more
December 11, 2019
Year 4, Day 345
This is being written on Christmas Eve, 2014, and motivated by the variances in which Christmas is perceived and celebrated in America – and to even greater differentials in other nations. In some areas of the world, carried by different secular or religious contexts in cultures, the incarnation of Jesus Christ from God is not believed, or may be held as a pagan concept deemed untrue in religion and culture – to the point it may be made an illegal practice in legal systems – worthy of omission. The trail of unbelief can be perceived in any country, but is accented more in some areas than others. Personal faith toleration in English-speaking countries is high, and Christianity in its various… Read more
October 31, 2019
Year 4, Day 304
Christians do not need to afford much time to the topic of Satan. A clear understanding of that enemy of God and man is not a necessary accompaniment of salvation. One who places utter spiritual faith in the redemption of Christ, and cultivates a life of proof of that faith in righteousness is virtually all that one needs to fulfill minimal requirement for God’s acceptance and God’s participation in an individual’s life. Effectiveness of the redemptive experience is highly related to faith (key to spiritual life), hope (immortality) and love (life context). God is man’s effective defense against negative life influence. For the Christian there is faith that there is a hedge on every side that offers spiritual safety. It… Read more
October 23, 2019
Year 4, Day 296
We return to the conflictions of analyses referred to on this date a year ago, with focus emerging from the Tom Brokaw volume: The Greatest Generation. The book received wide circulation, and repeated references in the media, stimulated by interviews with Brokaw. We are considering an event of considerable discussion during several years, with Brokaw’s concentration on the history, after some years as an eminent reporter of world news. The book from Brokaw named a number of persons who served valiantly in World War II, both men and women, who went on, after the war, to achieve productive lives – many to become eminent in their fields. I choose one to make a point that may be missed, perhaps controversial,… Read more
July 23, 2019
Year 4, Day 204
We do not know if the word Christian was coined by secular observers or by Christians themselves in the months of energetic, even feverish, evangelization following the ascension of Jesus. There was an apostolic force given for the lifetimes of the disciples of Jesus. They had been trained and educated by Jesus and deserved the special gifts they offered and recorded for all time following. What did they teach that is Christian? The answer from them, from their disciples (Church Fathers) and forward to history appear in Scripture, the Constitution of Christians for faith and practice. It takes a rather simple and expanding scope that ought to be clear to Christian and non-Christian so guiding understanding to arrive at a… Read more
June 5, 2019
Year 4, Day 156
Regarding human life, mankind seems taken with its length, while God is most interested in its quality. For eternal God, time is a created factor so receives less concern for him than his functioning in the eternal context. We can be sure that God understands our necessary relationship with time, and accommodates us in that context. At the same time, we must accommodate God in the context of eternity. Perforce our secondary interest is in life quality because we perceive that quality has something to do with the length of life. That life quality is often disregarded is cause for decline in the intended length of human life. The length of life for human beings in the physical (animal) context… Read more
May 7, 2019
Year 4, Day 127
Whittaker Chambers penned a long book (800 pages) to his children and the world, published in 1952. I still have my copy from Christmas, 1952, and will pass it on to my great-grandson who will inherit what remains of my materials from a long life of teaching and ministry. Paragraphs from it were so gripping that even with the growing forgetfulness of old age I remember the following one almost as I remember Scripture passages. I quickly recovered the page I wanted (Page 6) in that I remembered the name of the man in the piece, sixty years after reading Chambers – a name quite unfamiliar currently to an American ear. Therein is an important concept in regard to the… Read more
September 9, 2018
Year 3, Day 252
Both as a visitor and on assignments I have walked or driven along Times Square streets in New York City. The first time was in 1940 and the last time during the late 1990s, more than fifty years after the first event. Since my last visit twenty years have passed to this writing, and I have been reviewing my memory on the emergence of secular and religious culture as represented in this American context that reflect meaningfully the major cultures in the world of influence. New York is for much of the world what Rome was to the Roman Empire, or Athens was to ancient Greece, but not interpreted in militaristic or governmental terms as the Roman and Greek cultures… Read more
July 30, 2018
Year 3, Day 211
My mother was born on this date in 1897, and died 96 years later. I have recited some of the sketch of her life on this date for previous Pages. Any person who knows me well knows about the deep thanksgiving I hold in constancy for my mother. The memory of her is sacred to me. This Page is especially for the attention of those who have, or expect to have developing children. Nothing said here is meant to in any way disparage my Mother. She was full of love, affirmatives for life, and committed to the care of others, especially her family. She certainly did what she felt was right, and believed she knew from experience. God is the… Read more
