Last Sunday I read the story of David and Goliath to the kiddos during our service. I read from “The Jesus Storybook Bible” by Sally Lloyd-Jones, complete with the proper voices (I didn’t make the voices up; I just read what she wrote, with her intended sound effects and/or inflections). It is a story worth…

Every person who has ever lived was born into a cognitive environment. A cognitive environment is the sum total of all the things a person understands and recognizes and knows intuitively. One does not need to be a football fan to recognize what the Super Bowl is—provided one lives in America. A Maasai woman in…

My wife loves deleted scenes. Every movie has them. Not all material that is filmed makes it into the final movie. Sometimes it’s clear why a scene was “deleted”; it added nothing to the story. Sometimes, though, a deleted scene offers a bit of insight into the story, but was cut solely for the sake…

The prophet Amos proclaimed God’s word against the nations surrounding Israel and Judah. When pronouncing judgment against Tyre and Gaza and Damascus and Edom, etc., those hearing him would have cheered. What person wouldn’t want to hear how angry God is with his enemies? If nothing else, hearing of God’s anger and judgment on those…

Amos was a shepherd. He did not aspire to any great position. He was quite content looking after his sheep. More technically, he was a sheep-breeder. He did not merely look after sheep as they grazed; he bred them so that they would be bigger or stronger or they would produce better wool. We know…