Human ingenuity shows up in a great many ways.  Take archery for example; instead of the simple bow and string, the implements of archery are a modern marvel.  The first leap in having more effective and deadly bows was the recurve bow thought to have been invented in 800 BC.  Just by having the tips of the bow curve face the opposite direction, the strength and speed of the shot was increased dramatically.

Modern bows are even more complex, due to the invention of the compound bow, patented by H. W. Allen, Jr. in as late as 1969.  Instead of having…

To deal with ballooning inflation rates, recently Venezuela tried to deal with the problem by removing 5 zeros from the ends of its bolívar notes, which is the national currency.  The socialist country is experiencing such deep financial woes, to purchase a cup of coffee takes near 2 million bolívars.  This problem is primarily due to the country’s solution to dealing with financial woes in recent years has been to print more money, but not improve the economy on the whole, thus causing hyperinflation. There is no real increase in value.

Since all value in our physical world is assigned by…

It seems to me that so much of modern concern is for niche communities or customers that we feel we must make a special appeal to every possible demographic to be relevant.  This thinking can sometimes pervade the church, and we must create a special “ministry” for every part of life.  This, of course, downplays the universal application of scripture and the nature of scripture.  However, there are certain situations to which the apostles and prophets pay attention and it would do us well to see what they say about specific modes of life.

I am not going to downplay the…

I think we can all admit that sin is a problem, even among those who are trying to obey God.  The question comes down to how do we keep it from happening so often, and to such a great extent.  The good news is that we have a few examples in scripture of how people sought to prevent breaking of God’s law, and how that ultimately worked out.

The solution employed by the Pharisees was to extend what constituted sin outward from the actual command to prevent any real transgression.  Many bible scholars and preachers have referred to them building a…

Is it just me or does it seem like we’re inventing holidays just so we have something interesting to share on social media?  My profile picture is getting stale, it must be time for a new holiday that will dictate what kind of banner I can add to my page.

It seems like they have a holiday for everything nowadays.  Most of the new ones they are introducing seems a bit silly to those people who have been around for a while and remember the way it “used to be.”  However, holidays in this country are a sign of what we…

When we consider the kinds of mothers that are celebrated on days like today, we might not think of those who gave their children up for adoption.  However, one of the best examples of loving, godly motherhood did just about the equivalent of that.  She even did so after a great deal of prayer for a child.  Her name is Hannah.

When we consider what qualities reflect our modern values of motherhood, they are hard to identify in Hannah.  She was the second wife of a priest in Ephraim and was treated terribly by her rival, specifically because for a long…

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Exodus 13:17 – 15:21

Although the Israelites could have left Egypt and taken a more direct route to eventually reach the promised land, they did not. The Lord took them in a direction that was indirect and probably appeared to be a “road to nowhere” But while the people may have thought they were going nowhere, God was taking them somewhere. He took them in a direction where: His power would be displayed (by the crossing at the Red Sea), they would not become afraid, turn around and go back, and where they would learn to rely on Him. He would…

    I’m sure we all agree it would be unusual for any one of us to awake tomorrow, hop in the car and drive off with no destination in mind. It might even be a stranger occurrence for us to drop by the ticket counter at Hobby Airport and purchase a ticket for a flight to nowhere in particular, or climb aboard a ship at the Port of Houston headed to an unknown land, sailing along an unknown route. We would not take the above actions because we want to know where we are headed and how we are going…