Meeting A Mentor

In today’s world, mentors are very big. You have to have a mentor to succeed in business. Youth programs are built around providing young men & women with a suitable mentoring figure. The word mentor actually comes from Greek mythology and means a trusted counselor, guide, tutor, or coach.

As a young man, I adopted a friend as a mentor. His name was Curt, and he provided me with an excellent role model to follow as I charted my course as a new believer.

Read Acts 16:1–3
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

The Apostle Paul met Timothy during his second missionary journey. His father was Greek and his mother a Jewish-Christian, and Timothy was already a believer when he met Paul, through the testimony of his mother and grandmother. He likely replaced John Mark as Paul’s most trusted assistant and traveling companion.

As a young man, Timothy was not that different from young people today, especially not the ones I come in contact with through ministry. They are looking for role models. The world will only too happily oblige in providing their brand of mentors --- individuals who do not uphold the values we have if we’ve trusted Christ. This is an area that I think we in the Christian community haven’t pursued all that aggressively, providing mentors to young believers. That started me on a study in II Timothy, a book I find filled with the wisdom of a strong mentor.

Read II Timothy 1:3-7
I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Paul is praying for his young “mentee” (that’s not a word, but in keeping with the theme of mentoring, I’m using it instead of disciple, for after all, we are talking about discipleship here). He prays with a valuable asset; a pure conscience. Your conscience helps you tell between what is morally good and morally bad. It prompts you to do what is good and avoid what is bad. Pure carries the meaning of being sincere, genuine, and free from sin and guilt. So here Paul prays for Timothy with the sinless, genuine confidence that he’s doing what God wants him to do. Do you have someone who prays for you? Is there someone in your life who is older, at least older in the faith, who carries your name before the throne of grace regularly? What an uplift that must have been for the young pastor (Timothy was the pastor of a church in Ephesus when Paul wrote to him)! What a source of strength and comfort when the cares of the day (and the cares and pressures of leadership, in the case of Timothy) come crashing down around us, to have someone we know and respect praying for us.

As I mentioned before, Timothy’s mother and grandmother led him to trust Christ. Paul reminds Timothy of the legacy his mother and grandmother have bestowed upon him: his faith. They were concerned enough for Timothy’s future to take intentional effort to share Christ with him as a child. They were role models of believers in Timothy’s day-to-day life. Paul is acknowledging the faith of Timothy’s relatives as well as the fruit of their faith, as manifest in Timothy. As believers we should be concern over and, if possible, lead our loved ones to trust Jesus Christ. That’s not the easiest thing to do. I tried with both my parents, with no apparent success, but still I was called to try. Who in your life do you pray will trust Christ? Maybe it’s a parent, a child, a brother, sister or even a spouse. God calls us to share the gift that is within us. We’re not responsible for the harvest per se, but we are called to plant the seeds. This farming metaphor comes back up later in Paul's letter.

Why do teachers give quizzes on things you’ve already learned? To remind you of what you know. Paul reminds Timothy to stir up a gift God has given him. This stirring up means to keep something, like a fire, alive, preventing it from growing cold from disuse. Some believe Paul was referencing Timothy’s gift for preaching, teaching, and evangelizing which he may have allowed to get rusty. God is a gracious and generous giver of many gifts He wants us to use in furthering His kingdom. What has God equipped you to do that you’re letting lie cold and unused? Are you ignoring a special ability God has placed in you because you’re fearful?

Paul reinforces for Timothy what God has not given us: a spirit of fear. By that, Paul is describing a shameful, cowardly, weak and selfish character. Roman persecution, resentment, and false teachers were no doubt overwhelming Timothy. As a young pastor, he probably didn’t have a lot of confidence in his skills when it came to confronting persecution or refuting error. Often that’s how we act when confronted with attacks on Christians or Christianity. We lack the skill of the adversary, and rather than say or do something that will only get us into trouble, we remain silent, leaving attacks unanswered. But God did not design us to fear such things. We are each called to do great things for God and His glory! What is it you fear? What causes you to remain silent when God would have you speak forcefully?

I have often seen young men, coming out of seminary, ready to take on their life’s calling to pastor a flock and then get sent reeling when persecution or confrontation comes their way, from within their own flock. They are faced with the cold hard reality that God’s people are sometimes the pastor’s enemies. Paul wisely knew this, and as any good mentor will do, he is reminding Timothy of the provision, the education, that God has provided him that will help him resolve such issue, to God’s glory. What God did give us was a three-fold, not so secret weapon: Power, Love and a Sound Mind. Power is simply the spiritual energy to endure: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9). Love focuses on pleasing God and seeking the welfare of others’ before our own: “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4). A sound mind is one that is disciplined and possessed of a self-controlled thought-life that orders things according to God’s Will and Word “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5).

Read II Timothy 1:8
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God…

As a mentor, one is not perfect or without flaw. Paul certainly wasn’t and neither was my mentor. I am not a perfect example for anyone I disciple. Paul was in jail when he wrote this letter (though through no fault of his own). There were many stories told about why he was there. Timothy’s enemies were only too ready to malign Timothy’s character to gain an advantage over him. If he was such good friends with Paul, and Paul obviously did something wrong to land him self in prison, then what must we think of his young protégé? Whenever a believer is perceived to fall, the world immediately tends to think the worst. Often, we in the church tend to get caught up in that wave as well. Paul didn’t want Timothy to be ashamed of being associated with him or Jesus Christ. Are you ever ashamed of being a Christian? Does that shame put you in a kind of spiritual paralysis? That’s the strategy of the enemy; dilute and weaken the impact of Christ in the life of a believer and half the battle is won. For a marvelously entertaining and enlightening account of this tactic read C. S. Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters.”

Being ashamed is the same as having a spirit of fear. We are not made for shame but to give God glory and to lead others to trust Jesus Christ as Savior. We as Christians need to find more mentors for our young believers. In many cases, we need to step up, regardless of our age, and be a mentor to someone Christ has brought into our lives. Who would He have you mentor for His glory?

That Dusty Book In The Corner

The name of this blog is “In My Father’s House.” Now lest you think otherwise, the title refers to my “heavenly” Father’s house and not my earthly father. Although he was a good man, and provided for me and my mother, he was not a believer, so the subjects I speak of here would have been foreign to him in his life here on earth. Things like salvation, the existence of God, reading the Bible, would have all been lost on him. I’m hoping they are not lost on you.

In my earthly father’s house there was a family Bible. It must have been a gift from someone, because I really can’t say my parents were the type to buy a Bible like that. I don’t know who gave it to us, or when it actually appeared in our house. But there it sat, nonetheless, a big, ornate volume, as I recall, with gold leaf lettering on the cover: “Holy Bible.”


However I never recall seeing my father or mother open it up. It was just that dusty book in the corner, sitting there on the coffee table among the milk glass and bric-a-brac. I was never encouraged to read the Bible as I grew up, but curiosity drew me to it. It had pictures, at least a few, and that appealed to me.

It was a King James Version of the Bible, so for the first few years that I knew of its existence, that’s the only Bible I knew. What translation of the Bible do you read? Have you ever thought about why you read that particular version? As a matter of fact, is there only one true version of God’s Word? Some think so. It’s King James only! Others are a bit broader in their acceptance of what is Scripture.

And do you consider the Bible as infallible, without error? Is it really all that important? For me, it’s a resounding “YES!!!” To say that any part of the Bible is inaccurate calls God’s message and His plan of salvation for you and me through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross into question.

Read 2 Peter 1:20-21
...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

What is Scripture, but the written Word of God? In reading Wayne Grudem’s book on Systematic Theology, he points out that the earliest for of God’s written Word is found in Exodus 31:18, where God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, written in His own hand on two tablets of stone! Think of it. The God of this universe, Sovereign of all creation, wrote in His own hand, the first component of the canon of Scripture.

That’s a term that’s always sounded funny to me, “the ‘canon’ of Scripture.” Anyone who’s ever sat through one of my lessons knows I’m a fanatic about words and their meanings. And this one has to be illuminated! Simply stated, “canon” comes from both Hebrew and Greek words for a measuring rod. Thus, canon is the measurement or standard by which we evaluate all documents that claim to be Holy Scripture.

So how is that we came to even have a Bible? A simplistic, jet tour through the origins of our Bible would follow (but remember, I’m not doing an in depth analysis here, just touching some highlights). History informs us that Moses wrote the first books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) of what we consider today as the Old Testament. By about 450 BC, Ezra began collecting and arranging the Hebrew writings attributed to the Jewish faith into what became accepted as the Hebrew Old Testament (pretty much as they appear in our Bibles today). In 250 BC, in Alexandria, Egypt, a group of seventy scholars began working on a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures that became known as the Septuagint. The name Septuagint refers to the number seventy and is often referred to in writing as the Roman Numeral LXX. The Septuagint was arranged into three subject areas: historical writings, poetry, and prophecy. It also included seven Apocryphal writings. The term Apocrypha meant something that was hidden or secret and included works like First and Second Maccabees; a historical account during the 400 year period between the last books on the Hebrew Old Testament canon (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther) and the ministry of John the Baptist. These texts were later removed as non-canonical or non-authentic works from what we know today as the Protestant Bible. They do however appear in the Catholic translations of the Old Testament.

Somewhere between 45–100 AD, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude wrote the various Gospels, Acts, letters, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The writers of the New Testament quote from all but eight Old Testament books, but nothing from the Apocryphal writings. By 150 AD, the Gospel accounts, the history of the church, the letters, and the book of Revelation had circulated enough among the churches of the day to be referred to as the “New Covenant” writings. By 397 AD, the Council of Carthage confirmed as authentic the twenty-seven books we now have in our New Testament, affirming over 300 years of use in and by the church.

Then come the translations. The Bible was written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. A Latin translation was completed around 425 AD, known as the Vulgate. The Rheims-Douai Bible (published in 1609) took the Vulgate and translated it into English and became the standard Bible translation used by Catholic Church today.

In 1611, King James I of England commissioned a version of the Bible translated from two earlier English translations and the available Hebrew and Greek texts of the time. Over the years, translations like the New International Version and paraphrases like the Living Bible have come into fashion. Regardless of the versions out there, one question comes to mind: What is the ultimate goal of Scripture? My answer is to equip us, as believers, to do the work of God here and to help lead others to a knowledge of the Truth.

How does the Bible impact your life? Does it have any impact at all? For many in our world, sadly, it does not. Yet it is the one, most powerful and important volumes ever written. Even non-believers often have copies of it lying around their homes, gathering dust. I can’t really say that about the Koran or the Book of Mormon or the writings of Confucius.

If you’re a professing Christian, how does your life reflect your commitment to God’s Word? If we say we believe what’s written on its pages, shouldn’t that belief be carried out in our day-to-day lives? No wonder the world has a jaded view of us as a faith if we’re so cavalier about our God’s personal communication to us. Have you ever used the Bible to make a decision? What does it have to say about where a young man or woman should go to school? Does it have anything to say about your next purchase? Does it have any impact on whether you buy a new car or boat? I’m not being flippant here. If we believe that the Bible contains God’s wisdom for us, then shouldn’t it be consulted as we make decisions in our lives?

Finally, is reading, studying, and meditating upon God’s Word a priority in your life as a believer? Some of us squeeze out some time in our busy lives to read a passage or two from the Bible. We may even look forward to such an interlude. But what about studying it – personal study? One-on-one time with God’s Word and your intellect. What truths would God reveal to you if you honestly took the time to sit down and study it for yourself? But maybe you do that. Maybe you read all the good commentaries for yourself. That’s not the challenge. The idea is to read the Bible for yourself.

And how about meditating on what the Bible has to say? Would you reflect, concentrate and focus your thoughts upon it? Would you consider what it says to you, about your life, about how you treat others, and about how you treat God? This challenge is not for the weak or those who lack the resolve. To truly respond to this challenge means you’ll willing to embark on a life-changing journey of growth, maturity and wonder. That’s why I love the Bible and find my greatest satisfaction in studying and meditating upon its great truths and then applying those truths to my life!

Grace 2 U All!

Why Study Doctrine?

It’s early on Sunday evening and I’m putting the finishing touches on a lesson I’ll be teaching to my Journey 24/7 group tomorrow night. The lesson will be a very brief introduction into our study in basic Biblical doctrines. When I think of the study of doctrine, I think of my son-in-law, Jason, who graduated from seminary last year. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, a seminary is an institution for the training of candidates for the priesthood, ministry, or rabbinate. In my son-in-law’s case, it was training for the ministry.

A good portion of his education over the last few years has centered on doctrine, those core beliefs about God, the Bible, humankind, Christ, the church, and other concepts that my faith (Christianity) considers authoritative and accepted by all adherents. Simply put, doctrine helps us answer the question, “What does a person need to know to be a Christian?” In my mind, this question goes beyond the “steps” one takes to appropriate salvation. One might answer the question with the declaration that one must know that Jesus Christ died for our sins (yours and mine too, I might add). But to that, I’d ask, “How does one ‘learn’ that?” How does one come to understand that Jesus Christ indeed did just that? How does one grasp the significant impact that has on their life going forward? Again, all this presupposes the individual has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. For me, the study of Christian doctrine guides us through the collected teaching about Christ’s sacrificial death and a good deal more we need to know as born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read 1 Timothy 4:13-16

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

The Apostle Paul is planning to return to rejoin his young protégé, but until such time, what three things does he direct Timothy to pay particular attention to in verse 13? Reading, exhortation and doctrine.

If you accept, as I do, that what is written in the Bible is addressed to us as well as the stated recipients, then to what are we to give attention to reading? Scripture; We and Timothy are to practice the public reading and exposition of Scripture. This, in one form, is preaching, plain and simple. But it also encompasses the entire scope of public proclamation of the truths of Holy Scripture. Whenever I give testimony, in a public forum, to the affirmation of what Scripture teaches I am fulfilling Paul’s charge.

Next Paul encourages us to be attentive to exhortation. He’s calling us to challenge those who hear God’s Word to apply it in their daily lives. The world has many Christians who are content to live out their Christianity quietly and without challenging those brothers and sisters in their sphere of influence to live lives aligned with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. Exhortation could include rebuking or warning a fellow believer when they are engaging in activities that Scripture clearly forbids or directs us to avoid. Exhortation may also be encouraging or comforting a believer who is discouraged or hurting. Note that both reading and exhortation are linked by a verbal component. Both require speaking to one another. Paul repeats his call to give our attention to doctrine in verse 16, where he urges us to learn and teach the personal applications of doctrine.

But why? Why study doctrine at all? Couldn’t I just as easily tell the young men and women in my Bible study to simply read the Bible? Well, in a very profound way, that’s exactly what I’m doing when I’m asking them to spend some time examining the basic doctrines of our faith. I am challenging them to read and understand the Bible in a way many of them have never considered before.

Read Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This passage is familiar to every student of the Bible as “the Great Commission.” Here Matthew records Christ’s commissioning of His disciples, and each of us who have trusted Christ, to go out and evangelize. It is quite an eloquent call to action. By the authority given to Christ by His Heavenly Father, we are commanded to take positive, intentional action in going (leaving our comfort zones) and reproducing followers not of ourselves, but of Jesus Christ. However the only way they can know how to follow Jesus Christ is by examining our actions as we reflect Christ to them. That’s a very sobering prospect, when I think that if I am deficient in reflecting Jesus Christ; if I distort His holy image in any way, I am not reproducing followers of Jesus Christ, but of some perversion of Christ.

But the commission goes further by calling us to lead these new followers of Jesus to identify with Him through obedience in baptism. Furthermore, we’re to teach them in all the things Jesus commanded us to do. Here the Great Commission is fully rounded out, going from the call to be faithful and obedient in heeding His call to action that results in followers of Him and then to continue in our call to discipleship, by teaching them everything He taught.

Teaching in Biblical times was an oral exercise. So to teach all that Jesus commands includes all that He orally taught while here on earth. To do this I have to look no further than the Gospels, as they reveal Jesus Christ’s “lesson plans”, if you will. But if I stop there, I’ve not fulfilled the commission. To teach all that Jesus commands must include the interpretation of His teachings and examples and their application in the early assembly of His church, as recorded in the book of Acts. However, I’ve not faithfully discharged all that the commission requires unless I also teach what Paul and the authors of the Epistles wrote under the supervision of the Holy Spirit as they reflected the commands of our Lord. In effect, all that Jesus commands is what is recorded in the entire New Testament. But it goes further than that, as the New Testament repeatedly records that Jesus demonstrated an absolute confidence in the authority and accuracy of the Old Testament Scriptures as God’s Word, faithful and true. So all that Jesus commands must include the Old Testament too. Taken in this context, the Great Commission not only calls us to evangelize and preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost but to teach all the doctrines found in our Bible.

Why study doctrine? To fulfill the Great Commission, that’s why!

Grace 2 U All!

Pray At Your Own Risk

Reviewing the news this morning I ran across a story about a Jewish man being escorted off of an Air Canada Jazz flight for praying. It occurred to me that prayer is one of the most powerful and dangerous things we as believers can do!

Consider the Old Testament character of Daniel (Daniel 6). The political cronies of King Darius are threatened by Daniel’s influence over the king. They set about to craft a piece of legislation that will prohibit Daniel’s public practice of personal prayer. The king signs a decree that temporarily outlaws the practice of prayer to any other being but Darius himself.

Politics is a curious thing. We give it such credence, sometimes even over the sovereign God we serve. The authorities of the time were threatened by an “outsider,” someone who seemed to operate by a different set of convictions and motivations then their own. Daniel just seemed “too good” when they observed his behavior, and prayer was just one of the manifestations they witnessed. They saw the king bestowing more and more authority on Daniel and this alarmed them. Self preservation is one of the primary drives of any successful politician (just ask Joe Lieberman).

Daniel knew and fully understood the law was in effect, but was undeterred by the politics of the day. He went home, went into his prayer room (an upper room that was visible and apparently known to the outside world), and with his windows wide open, he prayed, not just once, but three times a day. The Book of Daniel goes forward to detail consequences for Daniel’s behavior and God’s gracious protection because of his obedience: ultimately God is honored by Darius and before all men.

As for the plight of our aforementioned passenger this morning, the man was identified as a Hasidic Jew whose style of dress alone would call attention him. Though his prayer was not characterized as audible, the rocking back and forth in his seat drew attention from some “nervous” passengers. Whether or not the airline may have over reacted is not as much of a concern to me as the fact that the man was praying, as was his custom, no doubt, and people felt threatened. To be totally honest, his situation convicted me. When was the last time I prayed in such away publicly that what I was doing was so unmistakable?

These are extraordinary times, at least when compared to what I’ve experienced in my lifetime. But just as in Daniel’s era, prayer is an incredibly powerful and sometimes dangerous thing to do today. Prayer in public schools and even at public events has become an undesirable element, politically speaking. Federal cases in the early 1960s effectively outlawed prayer in public schools led by a teacher or school staff. In the late 1990s, prayer in the huddle of a football team before a game was ruled unconstitutional. Now don’t get me wrong, the separation of church and state is a good thing. I’m not interested in a state sanctioned religion (my experience with government leads me to conclude anything they get involved in such as this is usually rendered ineffective immediately upon implementation).

But for the average citizen, public prayer is still a legal option. It may be discouraged, but we’re still free to employ it if we are so moved. What about you? If you are a believer, do you pray? How often? Are you a closet practitioner of prayer? Do you pray publicly, perhaps before a meal? As believers, in my lifetime, we have in many respects abdicated the God given mandate to employ public personal prayer. Aside from what it does for us, our souls and fellowship with our Lord, it makes an undeniable statement to those around us. However, be careful with what you commit to doing. Prayer is rapidly becoming a mark of “radical fundamentalism” and all the negative connotations associated with that label. You are making a powerful statement when you bow your head publicly and pray to God. You are identifying with His power and authority over you. You are recognizing your dependence on God before a watching, and increasingly intolerant, world. To be sure Christ withdrew from the crowds to pray (Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, 9:28), but when He was commanded by the Pharisees to rebuke His disciples for proclaiming public praise to Him, Jesus declared such a command would cause creation itself to cry out (Luke 19:38-40).

The time to be silent has passed. These are the days when courageous men and women of God need to demonstrate their faith in very public ways, not to drawing attention to themselves, but to our glorious and sovereign Lord.

Consider this: whenever you read this little article, commit to praying publicly at least once over the next seven days. It doesn’t have to be audible prayer, but bow your head and have a little heart-to-heart with the God of all creation. Be a Daniel. Adopt a habit of public prayer. If you’re a father, you will be setting an example for your family and children. If you are child, you will be demonstrating your faith to those in your classes, teams, and neighborhoods. Prayer doesn’t take a theological degree; just a will to be obedient to God our Father. You may get asked some questions. You may even be asked to cease, but you’ll be participating in one of the most powerful and God-honoring acts you can

Hello World (or should I say “blog-o-sphere”?)!

I’m a little new to this, so please forgive any gaffs. Blogging is a whole new world just opened up to me by daughter and son-in-law. On future visits here, I hope to (more or less) faithfully elaborate upon the theme I’ve assigned this page: “Contemplating His Word, challenging our worldview and musing about mankind and ministry in an Agree/Disagree world…”

As I stated in my profile, I teach a Journey 24/7 group at my church – Grace Baptist Church, Santa Clarita, California. For the uninitiated, Journey 24/7 is a youth program developed by Awana Clubs International. I also mention the “old school ‘purists,’” meaning those who still refer to this program as “Varsity,” a title discontinued over the past two years. However you choose to characterize it, every Monday evening, September through May, will find me teaching a group of about 65 teens, 9th through 12th grade. What am I teaching them? God’s Word – plain and simple (more about my philosophy about teaching youth later on).

Over a four year period, Journey 24/7 allows me a vehicle to teach four basic and four elective studies in twelve week intervals. The basic studies include three studies of New Testament books; Romans, 1st Corinthians, and a combined study in Ephesians and Galatians. The fourth study covers basic bible doctrines (God, Jesus Christ, Sin, Heaven, Hell, the Bible, etc.). These four studies set a strong foundation for a believer’s faith in Christ and their walk as a Christian. The electives are chosen from a variety of topics, such as: Old and New Testament Surveys, The Life of Christ, The Names of God, The Will of God and even a study through the book of Revelation.

Among other things, I intend this blog to be a point of contact between me and the students I teach on Monday nights. For their consideration (and yours whenever you happen to drop by) I will ask questions, make comments or expound further on the topics I’ll teach from on Monday nights. Through these postings you’re likely to become acquainted with a technique I use in my teaching; the “Agree/Disagree” proposition. I did not create this technique (I learned of it about thirty years ago), but it has been the source of hours of discussion and debate among those who enjoy thinking about and discussing God’s Word and His teaching in new and differing perspectives. It’s not easy to recreate in the written word, but trust me; God has blessed its use in my classroom sessions!

Beyond all that, I hope to open up my heart and mind on a number of subjects. As I share in my profile, I have some pretty eclectic tastes in movies and entertainment. We’ll no doubt spend some time discussing film, television, and popular culture here. Then there’s music. How do we use music in our life? What is its impact on us, conscious and unconscious? And, of course, there’s politics. What are a Christian’s responsibilities to the civil environment we find ourselves in? Am I Republican or Democrat or Independent? That’s of little importance. I’m a believer, and that carries some responsibilities into how I respond in the political realm.

So, shortly, there should be a few postings here to get the ball rolling. Journey 24/7 begins in about a week, and then we’ll be off and running. I hope you can find time to drop back by occasionally. I’ll try to make your visits as lively as possible. As soon as I get the hang of editing this site, I’ll have some links to some interesting people, places and sights too. Until then, may God bless you all and Grace 2 U!