Pastor Tom's Journal

Believing Is Seeing Mark 10:46-52 “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” - Erasmus     What is in a name? They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.   What did Bartimaeus see? When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"   What did the “many” miss seeing? Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"   Take heart – a three-point sermon in a three-part sentence. Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him,   "Take heart;   get up, he is calling you."   His last possession – Another three-parter So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.   A searching question and a simple ans...

  Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine  -  Own work History. I read it every  day. I take, at least, a shallow dive into the history of events on the day of the month I am experiencing, looking back over the centuries.  It helps keep everything in perspective. I quote from Wikipedia and footnote its sources: History  (derived from  Ancient Greek   ἱστορία  ( historía ) 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation') [ 1 ]  is the systematic study and documentation of the human  past . [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  History is an  academic discipline  which uses a  narrative  to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]  Historians debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians debate the  nature of history  as an end in itself, and its usefulness in gi...

Can You Drink the Cup? "And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:" - Mark 10:39   I do not know what I can do.   Nor do I really understand the price of the things I desire and require.   The disciples were posturing and negotiating. Who was most important among them? Who would be entitled to sit with Jesus in his throne room? They still assumed it would be like Herod’s throne.   It was a rather immature exercise. Yet, we still do it, even when we are more subtle about it.   We flash our credentials and flaunt our titles. We brag about our accomplishments and list our achievements as often as possible .  It may be insecurity; it may be self-doubt; or we may just be prideful.   We try to leverage our relationship with Jesus and our spiritual insights for material wealth, prestige, and power.   Jesus says direct...