Posts by hickerson (Page 4)

        Not too many years ago, I would have laughed at the suggestion that I read old books. That may sound strange, but I was truly a “modern” with such a faith in progress that only the latest and greatest book would do. Now to be sure, knowledge and life does know a progression of sorts. But over time (like for 15 years), my motto was “the newer the truer,” and it was failing me.   I was discovering that…

I remember not long ago when it was possible to teach the Bible on most any number of moral faith issues and not be considered in the least political. Times have changed, and by that I mean this: Teaching the same Biblical, moral guidelines I would have taught 30 years ago, now brings an almost instinctive reaction that I am being political. And somehow, in spite of the bible’s prophetic tradition (and Jesus was a prophet), this is supposedly off limits.…

 The “other Billy Graham,” the most influential non-American preacher of the last century was Englishman John Stott (died 2011).  Here are some of his thoughts that show why: “We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.” Our body has not only been created by God and will one day be resurrected by him, but it has been bought by Christ’s blood…

The time of this writing is the brightest night of what is known as the Harvest Moon. This full moon is so named because farmers throughout the world have used the extra bright moonlight to complete the harvesting of crops. For those of you outside types, it is hard not to notice in the Harvest Moon what I would like to call “the friendly embrace of nature.” One can see outside even at night, and the temperature is neither too…

We hear statistics all the time. Did you know that 43% of Pilots report falling asleep during flight, and 33% of them report waking up to find their co-pilot had fallen asleep as well. Statistics can be entertaining as well as helpful. They give us a “bigger picture” that permits us to see things from a “bird’s eye view.” Yet not all statistics are equally derived and some are easy skewed. This is because, among other things, the representative quality…

Winthrop Rockefeller left his family roots in New York City and moved down to Arkansas in 1953.   His connection to the state was an old army friend who lived there. Rockefeller settled on a flat-topped mountain. He could have easily remained in reclusive seclusion, never mingling with the “backward” Arkansans. “Backward ‘is a correct word, for Arkansas was among the poorest of states in the ’50s. Arkansas was under the thumb of severe corruption in the state government–namely the Orval…

Once there was a talented young shepherd from New Zealand named Kiwi who was flown to the States to teach ranchers the down-under way to raise sheep. Kiwi had a passion in addition to ranching, and that was driving. He couldn’t wait to drive the wide-open spaces of America. After landing at the LAX airport, he immediately rented a red Mustang convertible. Before heading out, Kiwi asked the gate attendant if there was anything he needed to know about driving…

Since an earlier writing spoke of the pressing social need to have a standard measurement of love, I follow my own advice in attempting to understand compassion. The standard measure of compassion is Jesus Christ as seen in His full Jewish and New Testament context. How did Jesus show compassion? How does the Master of Compassion inform our compassion? Something to notice about compassion in Jesus’ time is that the word refers to a “gut reaction.” It was affection coming…

A month ago the Russell Terrier that lives at my house (named appropriately, Turbo) exploded into the yard at 4:30 Sunday morning in hot pursuit of an animal invader that had brazenly appeared on the scene. The animal rushed into a bush beside the house, followed by Turbo, who jumped several feet into the air so as to land right beside the hiding creature. This all happened in a matter of seconds, with each animal going in opposite directions after…