Updates (Page 116)

Dear SCC & Friends, Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained… ~Proverbs 29:18 Update #68      A “Reading Specialist” once told me the difference between sight and vision. He said every normal eye has sight, but vision is sight with understanding. A reading disability occurs when a person can see the letters but is limited in their ability to track or understand what they’re seeing. I couldn’t help but think of Scripture… Having eyes, do you not see? And having…

Dear SCC & Friends, Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. ~Ephesians 6:2-4 Update #67      I can’t tell how grateful I am for my Dad. I greatly respected him, and he was truly a man of steel and velvet. My father was raised in Valentine,…

Dear SCC & Friends, But if we hope for what we do not see, with patience we wait eagerly for it. ~Romans 8:25 Update #66      Patience is a most underrated virtue. It often is falsely accused of being synonymous with procrastination or lack of action. One of the disadvantages of patience is it takes such a long time. The old cliché comes to mind, “I want patience and I want it now!” More than just the ability to wait, it is…

Dear SCC & Friends, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it…~Phil. 1:6 Update #64      When I was a new Christian, I went with a friend to help an elderly widow whose house was dilapidated and in desperate need of care. We brought rakes and shovels along with paint and plaster and a sincere desire to be a blessing. I felt really good about myself being so…

May 19, 2021 Dear SCC & Friends, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life… ~Proverbs 23:6 Update #63      Southern California is a beautiful place to live…beaches, mountains, lakes, parks and almost always great weather. As the pandemic abates it’s been refreshing to see our grandchildren enjoying the outdoors once again…Little League baseball, girls’ softball, soccer and more. Some of their games are close, but often times the scores are quite lopsided. An interesting twist…

Dear SCC & Friends, …pray without ceasing… ~1 Thess. 5:17 Update #62      Prayer gives us spiritual oxygen to accomplish God’s purposes in our lives. Pray without ceasing is impossible unless we see prayer as more than words. There is no record of His disciples asking Him to teach them how to heal or deliver. They did ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus modeled prayer… And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and…

Dear SCC & Friends, She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. ~Prov.31:26 Update #61      My mother was an amazing person of talent and grit. An Irish-Catholic reared by a single parent in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Her mom died when she was four years old. She grew up in the midst of The Great Depression and the onset of WWII. Her adult life would make a great novel… crossing the Atlantic in 1946 with…

Dear SCC & Friends, And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. Gal. 6:9 Update #60      We reap what we sow. This is a principle for all people regardless of their faith or circumstance. It can be an uncomfortable thought unless we approve of what we sow and how we sow. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows…

Dear SCC & Friends, And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. ~Luke 2:52 Update #59      We live in a time of incessant cultural noise. It is an era of information overload in which we may be well informed but ill-equipped to handle the issues of life. Wisdom is the acquisition of knowledge with applied understanding. Scripture warns us that knowledge “puffs up” but never questions the authenticity and value of wisdom. The pursuit of wisdom…

Dear SCC & Friends, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. ~Psalm 32:8 Update #58      Several years ago, I was in Colorado Springs to attend a church service. As we drove to church, I couldn’t help but see the unique and unusual. I commented, “Here we are, two Irish-Catholics who became pastors, driving up Interstate 25 to get off at Baptist Road, to go…

Dear SCC & Friends, While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. ~Genesis 9:22 Update #57      I love the smell of fresh-cut grass. I went to high school and college in Virginia and relished the change of seasons. After a grey, cold and snowy winter, I couldn’t wait for spring. The cherry blossoms at the D.C. Tidal Basin would come to full bloom…the reappearance of robins,…

Dear SCC & Friends, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. ~Romans 8:11 Update #56      But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they…