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The Pastor’s Pen: The pearl of the greatest price
A Christian missionary in India had befriended a devoted Hindu and had explained that salvation is a gift. Then one day the Hindu told the missionary he was going to crawl many miles on his knees to Delhi as a means of earning salvation. But before he left he gave the missionary a small, heavy
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Telling the Story: On the struggle bus
The struggle was real on Sunday morning. It was my turn to teach at the jail. We have been going to a prison or jail every week since 2006. It was not a new place or crowd. Teaching is one of my favorite things! Yet butterflies skittered in my stomach. I had read the Bible
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Notes from Calvary: Ridiculous Faith Part 2
BY GREG CRUM “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and
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The Pastor’s Pen: Who am I?
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant used to love to take long walks on a summer evening, meditating and thinking. On one occasion he was seated in a park when a suspicious policeman noticed that he had been there for several hours. The policeman came up to him and said, “What are you doing?” The philosopher
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Telling the Story: Can’t be trusted
We can’t trust Dixie out of our sight. (Dixie is the eight-month-old puppy my beloved rescued a month ago.) The first week she was with us, Dixie got out of her crate twice while we were gone and set off the security alarm. In call No. 1, the dispatcher informed my beloved that an officer
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Notes from Calvary: Ridiculous Faith
BY GREG CRUM “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:
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The Pastor’s Pen: Our greatest treasure
Peter Schmidt says if you’ve ever bought a used car, you have illustrated this truth. Someone got rid of that car for whatever reason, they got a new one. They wanted something bigger or they simply just got tired of it. But that old car that they wanted to get rid of was just what
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Telling the Story: The Passover
The words lamb, hyssop, blood, and outstretched arm have been spinning through my mind. Digging into the first Passover, puzzle pieces are falling into place as the people of Israel prepare to be freed from their slavery. God perfectly stitches the Scriptures of the Old Testament together with the New Testament into a beautiful tapestry.
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Notes from Calvary: Victor or Victim?
BY GREG CRUM “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” I Samuel 30:6 One of my favorite Old Testament saints is David. I
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The Pastor’s Pen: The Red Baron and temptation
Manfred, Freiherr von Richthofen was a famous German First World War fighter pilot. He was better known as the Red Baron because he flew a distinctive red Fokker aircraft. He shot down more combat planes than anyone else on either side in the first World War. His known kill tally was 80. On April 21,
