Morningside Devotionals

The question gets asked often, as much as any other, that's for sure, and it's not unusual because we seem to believe that what a person does for a living is a large part of who they are?  Now you know me well enough to see ahead and know that I don't go that way in my thinking, even though I know on the surface such is true, when you dig beneath that surface appearance a bit, there is where you see what is real. Just this past Sunday a man stopped me in the hall and asked me, "hey I sit in class you with and you seem to be a pretty smart person, but what is it that you do, because it seems like folks really listen to you?" Well, he asked, so I told him. Hmm, wonder what he thought of that? For example, my friend Chris Voss who does " The Chris Voss ," show, seems on the surface to be a free-wheelin', fun lovin', let it roll, sort of guy.  But that's Chris's public persona, and here is what a little study of Chris re...

Mouthful isn't it, and it's the sum of what we are, we aren't what we were, but we aren't what we will be, either, we are in the present, and that's the only place we can be. That's a tough fact of life, and yet as we exist at that moment,  the moments that built up to it, have to be considered, else we'd never grasp any newness to life.  However we cannot live "back there," it doesn't exist, and we can't live for a future that isn't existing either.  Plan for it, anticipate it, if you must, certainly it's interesting to try, but ultimately, what we have is right here, right now, from both of those other perspectives.  It's not just the past, but also what you believe you want to have as a future that contribute to the person we see standing there, right now. That would be an exercise in semantics if it weren't for the fact that we who live out our faith know that we place a very significant amount of...

Jude Law has done an amazing job on this video about the celebration for world peace and peace day Sep 21, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EymStNxnSWE Please pass this message on to as many people as you know who would like to promote peace today.

Ever talk to someone and they are telling you about how fabulous things are, and yet, you get the feeling listening to them, that they're not quite telling you all there is?  What do you suppose gives you that feeling?  Ever felt like you knew somebody, so you could basically anticipate what they were going to say next, only, they didn't?  In fact they were so far different from what you believed might be said, that it shocked you?  Have any thoughts about where that comes from?  Hmm... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcKgHFVKKDM (If you aren't seeing the video please click on this address. Who's the teacher and who's the student- who is the borrower, and who is the lender? What is one position, versus another? Is that- war? Is it within a person that they war literally against their own mind? NOW, yes of course, this has the obvious meaning, but when you get a little deeper into it, that meaning starts to indicate that the writer may have ...

Click to Web Site of Image "What we have here is failure to communicate, now, that's not the way I wanted it, that's the way he wants it."   Those famous words are part of one of my favorite movies, "Cool Hand Luke," it has a lot to say to somebody who is wondering about life, hope and rules. "Cool Hand Luke," was a values based movie about values when such wasn't cool, it had a heavy moral within it, as does our Proverb for today, 22:6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7gzI9gj3eU We're putting together a deeper section on this, because it is so often mis-interpreted. How you raise your child, may, or, in this day and age, as at no other time in history, affect how they live. We live in a time when the power, raw power of the media, and social media, FaceBook, for example, are not only as influential as a parent, but many times are viewed as more influential. We can continue to deny that in main stream evangelical relig...

Click Here To Image Site Oh please, tell me that you aren't a RUSH fan, I can just hear it now.  So the deal is, if you listen to that stuff you just can't be a Christian, please, that's so archaic it makes my teeth hurt, and when my teeth hurt, you can tell it in my writing!  Goodness- how far ahead of their time is the rock band RUSH, I'm not even sure they have a time, but of this I am certain, they found the techno alienation of this world and made the message of their songs speak to it, and people by the millions and millions world wide, responded to it.  In this one album, which came up out of the grass roots of Canada, "2112," predicted a cold world possessed by priests who only seek to maintain the status quo, no matter what.  And what did the album indicate was the hook point of that control, the freedom of people to play music, well, it might sound simplistic but the voice of the prophet comes in all sorts of flavors, and I take the...

The difference between success and no success in the online world is participation.  It's interesting because even the major "blogs" fight this same dilemma,  Dr. James C. Denison who runs the "Center for Informed Faith," which is based out of Dallas Tx has a listed membership in the hundreds of thousands- so certainly his mail list is quite a bit more extensive than ours, and yet, each day about 8 to 10 comments are monitored into the process- participation is absolutely key but participation is invoked, isn't it(?)- meaning that we have to raise issues that are stark enough that you feel compelled to answer. So moving quickly to the point - in Proverbs 22:4 we hear that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYpUDJLKj0 How important is it to know where you are in terms of who you are and what you are about?  Humility in terms of who you are is possible without believing in God, but when you add the necessary understanding of who you are with God in the...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_Notice "Burn Notice" a highly touted and much well received television series starring Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Amwar, Bruce Campbell, and Sharon Gless.  While it sounds like sensationalism and a reach is it possible this show can teach Christian's something?  Does the public image of a spy have anything to say to modern Christian's?  If you take it to the ultimate, this show which has nothing to do with the practice of religion, actually does speak about something that does have to do with religion, and it says it brilliantly.  If you cook you know too much heat under something for too long a time can be a disaster. While that is obvious because we call it "burnt," isn't it amazing in modern Christian circles how we manage to miss it? Did God intend that you should burn; would seem not, he covered Moses so he wouldn't burn, and yet, God does control the cooking as we see him using coa...