1. I stayed up too late. (But I'm retired and can do that.) I finally finished reading #TheFellowshipoftheRings, which I began reading before going to England and France. I listened to it years ago as a book-on-disc but had forgotten much of it. 2. I read #TheHobbit a while back and decided to dig into the trilogy.

My favorite character is Sam.

My favorite scene comes near the end of the book when, like Christians following the narrow path, Frodo, tempted by Boromir, knows he must take the hard path.

What happens if neither major party candidate wins an Electoral College majority this November? If a deadlock happens, Congress would have between January 3 to 6 to approve rules for a contingent election by which they would elect POTUS & VP.

thehill.com/opinion/471335… Current polling shows RFK Jr. with, at most, 9% of the national vote and he's on the ballot in just a few states. Under provisions of the 12th Amendment, he would likely be in the pool of three candidates from whom the Constitution mandates Congress would choose POTUS.

Dear fellow sinners, we are born willful, self-centered, and separated from God at the moment we are born. But God won't give up on us. In Jesus, He became a sinless human, took our death sentence for sin, and then rose again. All who trust in Jesus have eternal life with God. Comment #1: There WILL come a time when God will give up on the sinfulness of the human race. The sin, hatred, and selfishness of the human race will hit a crescendo that will cause God the Father to send Jesus Christ back into this fallen cosmos.

1. I think pastors & church bodies should address political issues in 3 circumstances, when When (1) Government commands Christian tos do something against our faith; (2) Governments engage in injustice; (3) Governments use God or theology to justify their policies 2. But, for the record, I think it's unlikely any Christian who really takes their faith seriously could conscientiously accept any party's nomination for anything.

Not the Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, American Solidarity, Socialist, Social Democrat, Fascist, Communist.

Despots love to export their despotism beyond their national borders. History teaches these lessons. That's why I pray in Jesus' name that God will stop Putin's invasion of Ukraine and bring him both to repentance and to justice. Join me in that prayer, please. One thing that the Bible teaches us is that despots eventually meet God's justice. If they're fortunate, that happens in this world when they can hear Christ's to repent and trust in Him for forgiveness and new life. Otherwise, despots stand powerless before almighty God.

Without doubt, despite having good gate employees who do their best. @FlyFrontier is the worst airline I’ve ever flown. After an 8-hour delay to our destination, now two delays going home, the last one because the crew can’t be found. They’re lost and incommunicado. None of @FlyFrontier’s delays have been attributed to weather, by the way.

1. I didn’t know Garvey was running for the Senate until reading this. politico.com/news/2024/01/1… 2. I met Garvey once. He spoke at a national Boys and Girls Clubs conference I attended. (I was VP and later president of the local B&G board in those days.) After the session, I approached him, introducing myself as a @Reds fan whose life Garvey had often made miserable.

Just finished re-re-reading a book my grandparents bought for me when we visited Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois on August 18, 1968. I've read many better biographies. But this is a great overview. Even the smell of the book reminds me of how the bookstore smelled back then. I've been to Lincoln's home several more times since and his burial site and, more recently, the fantastic Lincoln Library and Museum (@ALPLM). The first visit remains a vivid memory.

1. Judges 13 is another place that the pre-incarnate Christ, that is God the Son, second Person of the Holy Trinity, shows up in the Old Testament, centuries before He would be born to Mary at Bethlehem. 2. Often, sitings of God the Son in Old Testament times, are seen as "the angel of the Lord." This phrase sometimes describes more than just an angelic messenger. It denotes the visage of the invisible God, come in the form of a man, to deliver the message (the Word) of God...

1. When challenged by His fellow Jews for His claim of being God’s long-promised Messiah, the One Who would offer up His body and blood on a cross to save all people from sin and death, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” 2. In other words, long before Abraham was called to be the father of many nations, Jesus claimed that He was, is, and always will be I AM, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

1. My quiet time reading in God’s Word today, Exodus, chapters 20-23, which include, the Ten Commandments, drive me to seek help from the God definitively revealed to all in Jesus. As a sinful person, I see I’m incapable of keeping God’s Law... 2. ..., summarized by Jesus as “love God, love neighbor.”
But Jesus has perfectly kept God’s Law, then offered Himself as the perfectly sinless Lamb of God Who takes away the power of sin and death over our lives. ...

@pudicat11 Such beliefs pour contempt on Christ and what He has finished doing for us. The belief that we can save ourselves by our good works is, functionally, atheism, no matter how many nice things ppl say about Jesus, even if they show up for worship every Sunday. @pudicat11 Of course, if atheists show up for worship every Sunday, whatever their reason, they may hear the Gospel Word about Jesus and may actually come to believe that Jesus has the only name by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

1. That Jesus performed notable miracles, signs of His identity as God in human flesh, was confirmed by two major non-Biblical sources: (1) Josephus’ History of the Jews. Josephus wasn’t a follower of Jesus, an historian of his people, who spoke of Jesus’ miracles;… 2. The Talmud, a collection of Jewish teachings from about 100 AD, acknowledged Jesus’ miracles.

1. Hey, folks, your ideas appreciated. Prepping for study of Genesis 24 tonight. Verse 2 recounts oath Abraham exacts of servant to find a wife for Isaac. The oath is signified by a gesture: the servant putting his hand under Abraham’s thigh. 2. It’s clear enough that the oath expresses Abraham’s faith that God will fulfill His promises through Abraham’s genetic descendants. The gesture was common for oath-taking in such matters.

Facing Crucibles markdaniels.blogspot.com/2021/08/facing… #1Peter1 "Because I know and love Jesus" markdaniels.blogspot.com/2021/08/becaus…

I'm sharing links to all eleven parts of our just-concluded study of #Galatians.

Part 1: markdaniels.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-ne… I'm sharing links to all eleven parts of our just-concluded study of #Galatians.

Part 2: markdaniels.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-ne…

1. I just passed a church site that, over the past year, has periodically featured small white yard signs, each with a single word on them. Some of the signs are still there and say "Love," "Peace," and "Kindness."

Honestly, every time I see them, I cringe. It's not... 2. ...that, as a Christian, I don't recognize these things as laudable virtues. Of course, I do.

But these little signs seem to say that pursuing such virtues is what the Christian faith is about. It's not.

Truth #1: I'm a sinner born into a dying human race oriented to getting its own way, no matter what the will of God.

Truth #2: My sinful nature and the sins I commit because of it mean that I'm incapable of doing anything to save myself from death, the result of my sin. Truth #3: God the Son, Jesus, has done everything needed to save me from myself. He offered His sinless life on a cross, in His death, taking the punishment for sin and I deserve.

Truth #4: Jesus rose from the dead, opening up eternity to all who have faith in Him.

1. “Good evening, Father. How are you?” It was the Kroger clerk manning the self-check lines. I’d forgotten to buy eggs on my visit the previous day. So, I was back again. The clerk, someone I’d never seen before, was a big guy. He spoke with what sounded like a Cajun accent. 2. “I’m doing well, thank you. How are you?”

“Good. Where is your parish?”

I explained that I’m pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church and told him where our buildings are situated.

1. #Prayer update: Members of the congregation our son serves as pastor in #Texas have taken in him, our daughter-in-law, and DiL's mom, who is with them. Their place has had no power, heat, or water since yesterday afternoon. Our daughter-in-law's due date is today. 2. The couple who has taken them all in are also without power or water, but have another source of heat, can cook, and stored drinking water. Our son says that the short drive to the couple's house was treacherous, but they're very grateful.

1. May God bless you this Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent. The word “Lent” originally meant “spring.” It’s a time to reflect on our Baptism and a time of spiritual rebirth and renewal. 2. The season of Lent lasts 40 days, excluding Sundays. In Church history, candidates for Baptism would fast during these 40 days leading to their Baptism at Easter.