Neighbors in the Valley

Everyone who has read the gospels has read these verses. Few would disagree with the basic concept, and all would likely claim to hold to the command itself; but are we really? To even call oneself Christian would require adhering to the first: love the Lord your God with all your heart. But loving our neighbors  can be a struggle, right? I would argue that we cannot do one without the other. These two cannot be separated, no matter your theology, creed, or doctrine. Who is the Lord your God? He is the Creator of all things which have been created, with particular pride, the creator of man. Who is your neighbor? Well, look to the story of the Samaritan for Jesus's full answer, but simply defined: anyone you interact with. But more than fellow man, your neighbor is the image bearer of God Almighty. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them. " Genesis 1:27 ESV What does that really say? We ar...

Over the weekend, in the sweltering heat of this summer, my family had a little excitement in our garden. A fledgling robin dropped from the massive maple tree which overlooks the garden in our back yard. When we looked for the nest, we spotted it on a branch about 50 feet up, much too high to reach with any ladder we had available. Now the garden is about thirty by fifteen feet, though by no means the largest section of the yard. It's surrounded by a simple chicken wire fence, held up by studded T-posts.  Now the interesting thing about this bird's landing is that it came down just inches inside the fence. It was spotted by my wife just after the rest of us (my mother, two sisters, and daughter of 3) had come in from the heat. It sat, hungry, in the most exposed corner of the garden. The sun was beaming down, cooking the yard, and this little robin sat in the hottest, open corner the garden allowed. Our first reaction to this was to get a box or something and take ...

A righteous man will seek to imitate Christ, when and only when he is certain he will fail. When I first experience the saving grace of my Lord Christ Jesus, now ten years ago, I grabbed onto the scriptures with all my mind could muster. I studied the expectations and commands listed among the pages of the Holy Book, and I desperately tried to apply these to my daily. I purchased other books on basic theology and breathed in the words of great men before me, in hopes of pushing all that was evil out of my mind by filling it to the brim with the knowledge of God and His centuries of followers. One such purchase was "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. A classic devotional on which to meditate, but not one I should have been reading at such an early point in my faith. When I first picked up the book, which I have failed to read again in the last 8 or so years, I took it at title value. I was looking to do just as the name suggests; imitate Christ Jesus as closely as I...