Emotional Ups and Downs: Upalong Downalong

Emotional Ups and Downs: Upalong Downalong

Sung by pilgrims on their ascent to the feasts at Jerusalem, psalms 120 to 134 are called Psalms of Degrees. Three times yearly, every male 30 years old and over went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Not only was each...
The Road from Disappointment: Leaving Obscurity Behind

The Road from Disappointment: Leaving Obscurity Behind

“Disappointment”: “The failure or defeat of success.” (Webster’s Dictionary) The story so far… Two men, saddened by the sudden death of a close friend, have left the city where they live and are walking together along a country road. Their destination is a...
How to Deal with Disappointment: An Easter Message

How to Deal with Disappointment: An Easter Message

Jesus is not a disappointment! How many times have you lived in expectation of things that never happened? You will have found that the greater the expectation, the deeper the disappointment. In the time of Jesus Christ, Emmaus was an obscure village about 16km...
Easy As…

Easy As…

“Which is easier?” Jesus asked his critics: “To say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or (turning to the paralysed man) ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk.'” (Mark 3, Luke 5, Matthew 9). In the time of Jesus, people believed in...
Pastors Without Pastures

Pastors Without Pastures

The term “pastor” is mentioned only once in the New Testament (in Ephesians 4:11). Elsewhere, it is translated “shepherd”, and except for a reference to the Lord as “the Great Shepherd” and pastors as “overseers” (Acts...
Is This the Most Tragic Verse in the Bible?

Is This the Most Tragic Verse in the Bible?

The four seasons influence us more than we realize. In autumn we plant seeds without thinking of how they relate to other things we hope for. Not to plant would be not to hope, which is unthinkable. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,...

Peter E. Barfoot