Living Unfiltered for God

The second day of our Dock Devotions focused on one of my personal favorite characters, and stories, in The Bible: Abigail. Her name appears in only a couple of different chapters, but the part she played in history – particularly the future King David’s history – was enormous. The discussion was based on 1 Samuel Chapter 25. As usual, a bit of context first. David and his mighty men as they are called, had been on the run, trying to avoid King Saul. King Saul knew that David had been anointed King and wanted to kill David so that this would not take place. Shortly after the Death of Samuel (who, many years earlier, had anointed David to be the future king), while still trying to hide from Saul, they came to a town called Carmel. They arrived during a festive time, so David instructed his men to ask Nabal, a wealthy landowner, for any provisions, “you can find for them.” The request included the fact that they (David and his men) had been in the area and had done nothing to h...

We just returned from our annual trip to Florida Family CFO, a Christian family camp that my wife and I have been attending for the past 12 years. I say my wife and I, but there are lots of other family and extended family that are always there, as well. And, as the camp name implies, even a first-timer who has come by themselves becomes family very quickly. It is one of the highlights of my year to go to this place. It was there at camp four years ago when God gave me the idea to write this blog and to generally live, “Unfiltered for God.” Every year there are many stories and situations that occur that we end up talking about throughout the year. When we came back a year ago, I wrote about having Communion at 7:30 every morning on the dock with the Youth of the camp. I was blessed this year to be able to do that again, and it is a story that originated on that very same dock that I am going to share here, now. Unlike last year, I knew that I was going to be spending this ti...

Today, we are going to finish our discussion of St. Francis of Assisi's Peace Prayer. The last few posts have been spent looking at how it would look if we actually lived our lives they way he suggests in the first half of this prayer. What would it look like if we actually sowed things like love, pardon (forgiveness), faith, hope, light and joy into the world and the lives of those around us? We decided it would take looking like we're living life counter-culturally; living in a way that is not necessarily the norm for today's society. Today we will look at the second half of the prayer. To me, the unasked question that is begged is, " What are you seeking? " O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive,  it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,  and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. As I read t...

Angels play a very important part in the whole Christmas story. It was the angel Gabriel who visited Mary to let her know she would be the mother of Jesus ( Luke 1:26-38 ). It was also an "angel of the Lord" that appeared to Joseph that explained that God was behind his fiance's pregnancy ( Matt. 1:20-21 ).  The concept of angels has always been very interesting to me. The writer of Hebrews says, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" ( Heb. 1:14 ) Frankly, this has never been much help to me in understanding who angels are and what their purpose is. I have though, over the years, come up with my own kind of interpretation and understanding of angels and their purpose. I don't know how theologically sound it is, but it helps me. I truly believe that god still sends angels into our world as "ministering spirits". I think sometimes they may appear in a dream (like the angel did with Joseph) ...