Category: walk by faith
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Listen to your life
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) One of my favorite writers passed away yesterday at 96. Frederick Buechner was the author of 30 books all of which championed in some way the themes we have adopted here at the Catch around connecting life to faith. Real life to real faith.
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Birthday faith
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) I woke up to a myriad of birthday greetings and I appreciate every one. Marti wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday so I told her. I wanted to go to an Angels game but they are playing the Rangers in Texas. So…
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A pagan whore in the ancestry
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) There’s a pagan whore in the genealogy of Jesus and a very smart one at that. This was no accident. She was purposely worked into the stories of the lineage of Christ. Actually, Christ’s ancestors are all sinners, the whole lot of them, no one…
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Look out world; here we come!
(Click here for a video of John reading this catch.) In June of 2020, in the midst of our first serious pandemic scare and resulting lockdown, Jocelyn, my then 4-year-old granddaughter, came up with a statement that prompted someone in the Catch to coin the phrase, Jocelyn for President. The magical statement was: “When the…
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Stairway to heaven?
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) According to James, your faith in Christ has to be evidenced in your attitudes, your treatment of others, and your overall actions or else you are fooling yourself with your faith. No wonder some of the early fathers of the church didn’t want the Book…
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God is (still) God
“This is the kind of song that you write when you’re 56.” – Steve Earle We’re going to spend one more day on the song “God is God” by Steve Earle. Yesterday’s recording of the song was by Joan Baez, but today I want you to hear it from the songwriter himself.
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No-fault insurance
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24-25 I just recalled the longest night and reread the Catch…
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Fear and trembling (in your town)
You’ve heard of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Well, this is about fear and trembling (in your town). I’m going to start today where we left off yesterday: “Either you are dead to the grace of God (it’s all still about you) or you are alive (vulnerable, stumbling, weak, but full of faith). There…
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Clark Kent to the rescue
So I started this Catch listing all the things about the pandemic that have kept us isolated and turned us inward so I could contrast that with our current call to go out. But when I shared my opening paragraphs with Marti, she just laughed. I hate it when she does that; it means I…
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Bad start
You know what I just caught myself doing this morning? Putting down someone else’s ministry. Now how is that helping anything? It’s not. It’s only making me feel better for a while, especially when this guy is bigger than me in my eyes. So if I can bring him down, I can stand taller without…
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No Hall of Fame
We are sore pressed at every point, but not hemmed in; we are at our wit’s end, but never at our hope’s end; we are persecuted by men, but never abandoned by God; we are knocked down, but not knocked out. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 paraphrased by William Barclay) Well, by now last week’s series should…
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How to keep from being ineffective
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 This was part of our study last night in our online church and it’s been rattling around in my brain ever since. What’s most striking about this statement is…
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Rent-a-tomb
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. (Matthew 28:2) I’m unwilling to leave the Easter theme just yet. Think about that stone. The authorities were worried about the disciples stealing the body of Jesus…
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Right into the danger zone
While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. John 17:12 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the…
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For such a time as this
“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 The Book of Esther is a remarkable story concerning Jews dispersed throughout Persia. It comes at a time when their period of exile was coming to a close and some Jews had already returned to Jerusalem. Others chose to…
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One Faith
This is an easy one. One faith means just that: no denominations, no religions, no creeds. There’s only one faith because there is only one means by which one comes to faith in Christ and that is by way of the Holy Spirit.
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Church, 2020
Think about the amount of trust in the Holy Spirit there had to be in the formation of the early church. Especially after the persecution scattered believers all over the region. Groups of believers were springing up everywhere. All of them were preaching the Good News about Jesus and people were being added daily to…
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What does God require?
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:28-29 This is the work God requires: to believe. This statement does not make sense. Work and belief are in two different realms, and Jesus puts…
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When we go
These are truly strange times. On one level things seem pretty normal. We work out of the house anyway, so we’re still doing what we always do. Yesterday the neighbor’s gardener came and trimmed some of their trees. Gas stations still pump gas, repair garages are full of cars they are working on. Street sweepers…
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You are a hero of the faith
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its…