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Psalm 55, 2 Samuel 16:15–17:10, John 13:21-32 Betrayal. It’s not that we expect our enemies or adversaries to “play” fair, but our friends? Co-workers? Family? It’s hard. It hurts. We often feel absolutely powerless in the midst of it. Then we feel angry. All very…

Psalm 89:19–37, Isaiah 52:13–53:3, John 12:20-43 Imagine all the rumors you were hearing about Jesus, who had dared to ride into Jerusalem as a king. There were Greeks that were ever looking for Jesus. For some that just proved Jesus was not really the Messiah…

Matthew 2:1–12, John 12:1–11 The Magi’s visiting Jesus presented 3 gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Often they are respectively tied to Jesus’ roles as king, prophet/priest, sacrifice/savior. How accurate that is may be questioned. That they were costly and significant gifts is not questionable. Gold is…

Psalm 23, Deuteronomy 10:12–22, Hebrews 4:4–13 Sleep is good. Rest is good. Too much of either is bad. Too little of either is bad. Sleep and activity must be balanced. All too often, however, neither of these are correctly balanced in our lives. The lazy…

Proverbs 3:33–4:27, Genesis 3:21–4:7, Luke 3:4–18 (Grand)Parents can pass on wisdom to their (biological, mentored, or spiritual) children and grandchildren. Sometimes the wisdom is things learned, sometimes it is pain survived. In Proverbs, we see a collection of wisdom sayings. Living a good life has…