Parts of Speaking Publishing

 Over the past months I have been reading slowly through Romans. Slowly.  When I got to 8, it was a stroll to smell every flower and look into every leaf.  In 9-11, it was an uphill climb to fathom the perfect, unmistaken sovereignty of God and how Israel fits into it. I haven't reached the top on that one.  Now, I come to 12:1-2, which in my generation was the go-to text for speakers to young audiences. Despite all those sermons, it still perplexes me: knowing and proving the perfect will of God?  Well, he has just been writing about the will of God. Our sacrifice of our active bodies and inner selves (in contrast to the fatal sacrifice of physical animal bodies like those of centuries in the temple) to a service to God that is only rational in light of what he has just written, which ended with this: 11:33  Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable  are  His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34...

  https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/09/why-charlie-kirk-landed-with-young-men-like-me/

 Three police officers were killed in Pennsylvania today, doing their jobs.  Will they get the honors of flags at half mast?  I hope so.  Our priorities are mislaid, at best. "Screwed up" seems more appropriate. 

  One time I was looking into improvisational acting and learned that one of the rules is to never say “but,” in response to an acting partner, only “and.” “ But” makes the conversation into an argument and dialogue into defense. I also find that “but” means what was just s aid before is dismissed, invalidated. Recently in my Bible study a woman was confiding in us that her investments were waning and she was unsure about her finances. She said, “I believe God can take care of me, but . . .” I somewhat too vociferously said, “Saying ‘but’ takes away the truth of what you just said.” Not one of my finest moments of empathy (although I should say the woman has told us this frequently) But …. T wo things can be true at the same time. This statement about “but” is too simple. And it can cause us not to listen. “ I know God will take care of me, but . . .” That could be the introduction to . . . a confession of fear . . . a true denial of God’s care . . . a questio...

  What Can I Say? by Mary Oliver What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is the face of patience. Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends. Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four, and the leaf is singing still.

 I John 5 speaks of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.  I, and I believe others, associate this with the three biggees of American culture: money (wanting things, covetousness), sex, and power (control).  The American church needs repentance as far as these are concerned.