Contemplating Grace

Life Notes—March 4, 2010  “Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.’ But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about.’”   Mark 14: 39-40  Jesus, praying in the Garden of … Continue reading Blood in the Water

Life Notes—February 25, 2010  “And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.  And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to say to him.”   Mark 14: 39-40  Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with Peter, James and John, his … Continue reading Companionship

Life Notes—February 18, 2010  “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.  He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.  Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of … Continue reading An Amazing Sacrifice

Life Notes—February 11, 2010  “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, … Continue reading A Vast and Steamy Love Story

Life Notes—February 3, 2010  “…When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’  Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.’”   Luke 5:3b-5a  Jesus was using Simon’s boat as a platform from which to preach to … Continue reading Net-Breaking Success

Life Notes—January 28, 2010  “…and you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.  And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.’”   Luke 4:23b-24  When I was in high school and college I played in rock bands.  Although … Continue reading A Matter of Proximity

Life Notes—January 21, 2010  “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.   1 Corinthians 12: 12, 26  … Continue reading Members in the Body

Life Notes—January 14, 2010  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples...”   John 13: 34-35   Jesus uttered these words as his Last Supper with his disciples was coming to a … Continue reading Loving and Liking

Life Notes—January 7, 2010  “…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”   Luke 3:16b-17  Following one of my recent forays into the cold, white … Continue reading Baptism by Fire

Life Notes—December 31, 2009  “You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”   Ephesians … Continue reading Between the Ears