Category: Mindful

  1. Went to meet with the saints in Eugênio de Melo (the other congregation in town) this morning, preached at their invitation. Good to see some old friends. Attendance was down. Did they hear I was coming?

  2. We had lunch at Empório Ancheita and invited José Roberto along, since we were taking him home.

  3. Much cooler today than normal. Not complaining. Cool is me.

  4. Sore in the lower back today from exercises yesterday morning at the gym. Case of the old gray mare?

  5. Bought a book lately? Try this one: Choose! Easy to read, challenging to practice.

  6. A verse of mine: Pounding drums from a distance, / The party invades our privacy, / No one knows or cares, / Gone the spirit of civility.

  7. A Bible verse: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain, where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf, since he became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” Heb 6.19-20.

Arnold Seymour Relman, the former editor-in-chief of the New England Medical Journal, and professor of medicine at Harvard University, once stated: “The medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of practice of medicine, but also in terms of teaching and research. The academic institutions of this country are allowing themselves to be the paid agents of the pharmaceutical industry. I think it’s disgraceful.”

Source: Doctor claims prescription drugs are killing us

A prayer site included this line by a contributor: “Lord, I give myself to fully follow You, whatever it may mean.” Perhaps she meant to say, whatever the cost, and that would be a wonderful prayer. The Lord has told us what following him means. The NT goes to great pains to explain what it means to follow Christ. To understand that, one needs to read, not guess at it in a prayer.

Picked up again tonight on our Bible readings at the gym, started at 10 pm, after the last person finished her workout. (I was next-to-last.) We had six people present, not bad considering we’ve been out for two months. Four of the six are not Christians according to New Testament teaching. In two weeks we’ll have another.

So, yeah, me in gym clothes, sweaty, teaching at 10-10.30 pm. Better than it sounds.

  1. Is it wrong to speak of sharing the gospel with someone? Paul didn’t think so, 1 Thes 2.8. (Most versions translate metadidōmi as “share.”)

  2. With God’s acceptance, we can face all our warts and shortcomings and work by his power to perfect holiness.

  3. One writer says we can only “try” to be Christians. Point that it’s a process is well taken, but that doesn’t mean we are less than saints, less than God’s holy people.

  4. I often pray that God will give us growth in all areas: numbers, spirit, good works, generosity, love, in knowledge and certainty of truth. What am I missing?

  5. Every night, before laying your head upon your pillow, zero out all anger, irritation, resentment, and bitterness. You’ll rest well and rise refreshed.

  6. A verse of mine: My view, beyond my desk, of light and palm, / Refreshes the mind and brings the spirit calm.


7. A Bible verse: “For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living” Romans 14.9.

“There are very few people
who realise what God would make of them
if they abandoned themselves into his hands,
and let themselves be formed by his grace. (Saint Ignatius)
I ask for the grace to trust myself totally to God’s love.”

From today’s sacredspace.ie.

There is a need for words, in prayer, in relationship, in mission. (Let no one tell you otherwise.) But in the space between the words, there is also revelation and communication. And there is concealment of some sort. (Jesus did not reveal himself completely to others.) Let the former be honest, and keep the latter from being malicious.

Let us seek to have “the good will of all the people” Acts 2.47, by being people of compassion and commitment. Above all, let us give heart, soul, and mind to the Lord. “O Lord, teach me how you want me to live! Then I will obey your commands. Make me wholeheartedly committed to you!” Psalm 86.11.

  1. From Oswald Chambers: “The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is ‘for the whole world.’ When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.”

  2. People want feedback, but then they don’t. Somebody once said to keep your counsel to yourself. Not a bad piece of advice. I should remember.

  3. If God knows me completely and loves me still, I can be honest before him about who I am. I can also be transparent when with others, revealing, in appropriate ways and at proper levels, who I am.

  4. John Henson wrote that Israel forgot “material wealth is a terrible indicator of national well-being.” A bad habit of many peoples.

  5. Perspective is important. Check out this map that shrinks countries to size on a Mercator scale.

  6. An original verse: The single drop of rain from heaven seems small / Until another joins and together they fall.

  7. A Bible verse: “But these people say evil things against whatever they don’t understand. And the very things they do understand will destroy them. That’s because they are like wild animals that can’t think for themselves. Instead, they do what comes naturally to them” Jude 10 NIrV.