A Bondservant's Musings

For the second consecutive summer, my wife and I are spending a good chunk of our vacation touring US national parks. I see signs at park entrances, visitor centers, in the park brochures, etc. urging park visitors to "Leave no trace" of their visit. The gist is to pick up your garbage, recycle and not impact the park, really to reduce man's impact on the land. While we could debate how we as bible-believing Christians should interact with, use and steward the earth, the thing that strikes me about this "Leave no trace" campaign is that is opposite of what we are to do with our lives as followers of Jesus. We too are visitors, even aliens, on this earth. But God has called us to impact this world -- think people instead of the terra firma -- for His kingdom. How are we to do so? Focus on the eternal If we are going to leave a trace, we must focus on eternal things. There are only two eternal things in this world -- God's word and people. As Pastor James has ...

When I was a teenager, we went to Great America every summer. I still remember the safety announcement for the Yankee Clipper flume ride, as you were getting in the boats, while you waited to go up the incline for all the fun. "Keep your hands and feet inside the boat at all times." I thought of this recently as I read Mark 4:35-41. When Jesus says, "Let us go across to the other side" in v. 35, the disciples go with Him. They are close to Him, in the boat with Him when a "great windstorm" comes. Notice that the storm comes at night when it’s dark and after a day of ministering when everyone was tired. The waves are filling the boat with water. The disciples are afraid. They fear for their lives. So what do they do? The disciples go to Jesus calling out for help. They aren’t concerned about bothering Jesus. The disciples don’t consider jumping out of the boat and swimming for it. They don’t try to get in a different boat thinking it might be a better fit t...