Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
In the Bible, God’s Holy Word, we find two accounts of animals that spoke human language. The first took place within the Land of Eden, in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, a Serpent speaking to Eve. Then, in Numbers 20-24, the wicked prophet Balaam was rebuked by his donkey for beating him. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
We see in this quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth that the theme of Ecclesiastes is felt and expressed by all men in all of history. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy Mcilvain.
Imago Dei “image of God” describes how humans mirror God’s divinity in our moral, spiritual, and intellectual nature. “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).” Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Jurgen Moltmann states in the first line of The Crucified God, “The cross is not and cannot be loved.” Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
As I walked in the back door of the hospital, and down the hallway to the room were my 91-year-old mother lay dying, I suddenly realized that 62 years ago she had given birth to me in this very building. I passed the small chapel in which in years past, as a nurse, I had prayed with patient’s family members as their loved ones also stood on the precipice of death and a new life. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy Mcilvain.
“Maybe we’ve spent too long trying to figure all this out with theory. So listen to me, when I say that love is not something we invented. It’s observable, powerful. It has to mean something. Love is the one thing that transcends time and space.”
Amelia Brand (Ann Hathaway) made this statement in the movie Interstellar. Interstellar is a 2014 science fiction film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan. The film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for humanity. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus’s advice to his guests becomes a lesson about life in the Kingdom of God.
When Jesus spoke this parable, he knew by his deity and in his humanity how our sinful natures twist us to selfish preoccupation. All of us have felt the tug of self-exaltation. Bigger, better and greater, be famous, have your 15 minutes of fame, be number one; you deserve it. This is the mantra of our culture and the futile goal of much of humanity. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
I am not gifted in music, but it punctuates my life in many ways. I hear a song, and it evokes deep memories and associations of times past, whether it be Bach, the band Chicago, or country. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
I chase time. I want more of it. And often in my life I have felt like Henry Bemis in the 1959 Twilight Zone episode in which the people and the world around him conspires to keep him from having more time and in his case it was to read books. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Jesus walked. The creator of you and I and the universe, the one who spoke into being the speed of light and sustains all of creation “walked”. And like you and me he walked at the speed of about 3 miles per hour. Continue reading