“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” – Proverbs 4:25-26 “Look where you want to go” is an adage of motorcycle safety. If you hit some debris or a slick patch, and...
Might Will Not Make Right
“Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.” - Proverbs 3:31-32 A school bully conjures up many feelings, but envy is not typically one of them. Why...
Good People Get Good Things
“For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.” - Proverbs 2:21-22 As a child, I loved watching superhero cartoons, but adults often find...
Politicians Are Not Jesus
Rumblings about a second American Civil War have grown louder. People confine themselves to dark allusions, for fear of naming it into existence. Yet one can hardly fail to notice the widening political chasm. Crossing the aisle today looks like a tightrope across...
Prepping for the Impending Apocalypse
“Are you the right person to write this article?” was the feedback I’ve been chewing on for several weeks now. In one sense, obviously not. Unlike some neighbors on my street, I don’t have a chicken coop or an imposing beard. I’ve never been hunting. I can barely keep...
Wisdom Will Laugh at Your Expense
“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you.” – [Personified Wisdom] Proverbs 1:26 Good guys aren’t supposed to be vindictive, right? When the hero has his enemy in his grasp, when personal vengeance is at his fingertips, what does he do?...
Powerful People Shouldn’t Drink
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.” – Proverbs 31:4-5 Does drinking or staying dry say anything about your...
You Know Less Than You Think
“Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!” – Proverbs 30:4 What is rain?...
Speak softly and carry a big stick
“By mere words a servant is not disciplined, for though he understands, he will not respond.” – Proverbs 29:19 Teddy Roosevelt maneuvered the US military through more than a few tight squeezes during his presidency (1901-1909). He espoused this West African proverb as...
What’s the Point of Waiting?
“I hate when they make you wait in the room. Because it says ‘Waiting Room.’ There’s no chance of not waiting. They call it the waiting room; they’re going to use it.” - Seinfeld Seinfeld captures that slow dread—waiting. But then there’s those times when you wait for...