In the Zone

At Vacation Bible School this week, I offered a daily prize to students.  Every day they brought their Bible, they received a candy bar. Amazingly, by day three, almost every student proudly toted a Bible under their arm to class.  I'm glad students brought their Bibles.  We used them a lot this week.  What's sad is it took a candy bar for them to do so. Don't get me wrong - I understand many students use their iPhones, iPads, Kindles, etc for their Bibles.  I have a Bible on my iPhone.  However, that's not the issue.  The issue is many students simply don't know God's word. In fact, it's not just students.  As a country, Americans are more Biblically illiterate that any time since our founding in 1776. Don't believe me?  Look at these numbers from a recent survey: More than 60 percent of Americans can't name either half of the Ten Commandments or the four Gospels of the New Testament. Some 80 percent including "born aga...

I've never experienced a true famine. I've participated in the 30-Hour famine numerous times.  I've fasted on many occasions.  However, I've never wanted for food simply because it wasn't available. I've never been more than a trip to the fridge or a drive to Walmart away from food to eat. I understand famine can have devastating effects.  I've seen the infomercials asking for donations to feed the hungry and care for the starving.  I know how extreme drought can ruin farmers and their families.  I don't take famine lightly. There is, however, a famine worse than no rain or insect infestation. "'The days are coming,' declares the Sovereign LORD, 'when I will send a famine through the land-- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.'" - Amos 8:11 God declared that people would not hear the words of the Lord.  He would be silent.  They would seek after his counsel and wis...

It always takes a couple of days to recover from camp. It's not just the physical exhaustion either.  That goes away after a good night's sleep.  It's the mental exhaustion that sticks with you.  After six days of teenagers, a tight schedule, a new routine, processing God's word, dynamic preaching and worship, late night conversations and even pranksters, your mind grows weary.  I find it takes three or four days before you mentally recover from a week-long youth trip.  I liken it to the story of Elijah.  After battling the prophets of Baal and proving that God is the only true God and after ending the drought, Elijah flees.  He calls out to God in despair in 1 Kings 19. 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." Here Elijah has jus...

I love a good swashbuckling movie. It's always entertaining to see the protagonist of the story dueling blades with the villain with the fate of the quest/world/universe hanging in the balance.  Many great movies centered around such an action piece, including all the Star Wars films, Pirates of the Caribbean and even the Errol Flynn movies of yesteryear. There's just something poetic and artful about a good saber duel. You can see the give and take.  Parry and stab.  Slash and block.  It's elegant, almost whimsical.  Of course, in most movies, the good guy prevails. In the real world, that's not always the case.  Sometimes the villain wins.  Make no mistake, though, we are engaged in sword fights all the time. In Ephesians 6, Paul closes out his Armor of God analogy by telling us to take up the Sword of the Spirit.  The sword is the only offensive weapon in the armor of God.  It is our only device for striking out at Satan in the s...