The Plumbline

A recent post by a friend bore a small image of gold flecks among scattered dirt.  The caption read:  "Anyone can find the dirt in someone.  Be the one that finds the gold." (The Elijah List)  Quite a profound thought if you really take a moment to think on this one!  We all do more than our fair share of pointing out the dirt - I wonder how well we do with finding the gold in others?  Those who seek good find it - focus on the evil and you will see it.  As we are faced with bad stuff happening all around our country, such as shootings at schools, holiday parties, and even drive buys, it is almost hard to see the good in others at times.  We get bombarded with the bad so frequently with our social media, the good almost pales in comparison.  Sometimes it takes a change of focus on our part to begin to see the good.  You know, a gold miner doesn't set out to remove the dirt - he sets out to find the tiny flecks of gold in the pan! Th...

Have you ever been the first one to blaze a trail through freshly fallen snow?  The pristine, unblemished look of that mounded whiteness just beckons us to cut a path through it, fall down into it, and mound it up into a creation of magical delight.  The first set of footprints leaves only small impressions where your foot came to rest with each step, doesn't it?  The more the same steps are followed - either by your own movement or that of others - the more a "path" begins to be worn.  The original footprints are still there, but they are underneath all the others which have passed over the same spot.  In time, we come to call this a path - the route which has become the place of movement and passage.  I want us to begin to think of what Christ did on our behalf as he took the first steps into an eternity of grace on our behalf.  Eternity's "grace" path began with one set of footprints, and down through the ages, by others following in those footprin...

As the Christmas pageants and nativity scenes begin to depict the Christmas story all over the world, it is important to remember the mission of the 'heavenly messengers' which heralded the birth of the Messiah.  Their mission was not to gain the attention of the world, but to focus the world's attention on the fulfillment of prophesy - the coming of the one who would set mankind free.  All messengers have a purpose - to declare a message.  Back in the day, before telephones were in every household or the advancement of technology to the point we can search anything on the internet, people relied upon messengers to deliver these little messages called telegrams.  Across the miles and miles of wires, signals were transmitted, decoded, and placed upon a small page.  Secured in a distinctive envelope and carried to their destination by one commissioned to deliver that message to the intended recipient, those messages brought news of both joy and disappointment. ...