Isaiah 61:1 What was it like that morning when people in Nazareth made their way to the synagogue where Jesus announced his public ministry? Jesus grew up in the synagogue and was well known to everyone. There were some who remembered when he first came into town with his parents. The scandal of his birth…
Ruth 3:7-18 Last week I talked about some elaborate marriage proposals. This week I found another one. A man arranged to be the bank mascot at a professional basketball game. His girlfriend thought she was randomly picked out of the crowd to be blindfolded and have to find the mascot on the basketball court in…
Ruth 3:1-9 Marriage proposals can be quite elaborate. I read on the internet about one man who hired a production company to produce a movie trailer. He filled the movie theater with 160 close friends and came in late with his girlfriend so she would not recognize the others in the theater. There were a…
Ruth 1:22-2:13 Your friend Bill has been an alcoholic for most of his adult life. He has lost job after job. He has lost his driver’s license. He has destroyed relationship after relationship. And then someone tells you he went to an AA meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous. That news is a glimmer of hope in a…
Ruth 1:6-14 If I asked you to name a hero of the Bible, who would you name? David who killed Goliath? Samson who gained victory over the Philistines? Abraham who is the father of our faith? Gideon who led Israel to victory over the Midianites? Deborah who led Israel to victory over the Canaanites? Samuel…