Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. - Leviticus 25:9 "It's about forgiveness" I don't know what sort of statistics preachers keep up with when it comes to sermons, but one hard to miss fact for Rebekah has been how …
Continue reading when we break covenant, God takes responsibility
The whole wide earth is full with your faithful love, God, teach me your ways! - Psalm 119:64 (paraphrase) - image from the web Numbers are both intimidating and curious - especially if you are a language-arts person like me who gets uncomfortable around much beyond 3rd-grade math. But, increasingly, numbers - primarily zeros and …
Continue reading The number “One Million”, data, statistics, “reach”, and real people
For some reason people like numbers. Lists too. Lists that include numbers, even better. So today, for fun and illumination, I'd like to share: "10 interesting numbers for Jan 10.” Or 10 for 1.10.2020. “2020” – My prayer this year is for clarity. Not just for myself but for those of you interested enough to …
Here is my prayer - for my family, for my church, and for you my readers:
So I keep plugging away, I keep living faithfully and sharing my stories with you, and I continue to pray - every single time I hit the "publish" button or float an idea for a new book - that these words will land where God intends
There's a verse in the Old Testament that tells a story all by itself. "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him" (Genesis 5:24). What a great summary of a life. If someone is able to say that about me, in response to how I live, then I believe I will have lived well.
That is exactly where the church should be focused; celebrating Jesus, grateful to God, equipped and encouraged to be instruments of Grace.
I'd like to challenge each one of us to enter 2016 committed to living faith out loud, to following Jesus with intention and with integrity, to living like we mean it, and to spreading the good word about the good news of the Gospel of Love.
I also won't apologize for making a sales pitch. Numbers attract attention, and I'd like to invite anyone who reads this blog to fill their shopping carts with my books, to give them as gifts to their friends, and to help me make my case for living like we mean it.
A men's ministry that encourages guys to practice the presence of God in their day-to-day lives, and then to share openly about those experiences, actively encouraging one-another in day-to-day faith, is - I believe - a critical emphasis if we want the church to be vital, alive, healthy, and growing.
Derek Maul: Words and Photographs for the Journey 