life. faithful.

Crispus tried to hang back. He still didn't truly understand the charges against this man, so he couldn't comprehend why he had been sentenced to crucifixion. As if that weren't going to be bad enough, Pilate had tried to appease the Jews by having this Jesus of Nazareth flogged. He looked down at the flagrum in his hand; it had been hand tied by his mentor and given to Crispus with pride, the bones tied in to the ends sharpened to hook-like points. He had used it in the past as an object for meting out justice, but somehow this time it just didn't seem like justice. His fellow soldiers didn't seem troubled. In fact, some were relishing in what they had been called on to do. Someone had twisted a mass of thorns together and pressed the make-shift "crown" onto his head, making blood mingle with the sweat from his brow and run down his face. An elbow caught Crispus in the side as its owner motioned for Crispus to get in on the flogging. Hesitantly, he...

There was a knock at the door, waking Lydia from an exhausted sleep. It was Passover, and everyone had been there for the family seder. Lydia had been helping her motheronly fallen into bed a couple hours before the frantic knock. "Have you heard? They've arrested someone." It was Elias at the door, obviously in a hurry. "The chief priests are taking someone to Annas." Blinking, Lydia tried to wrap her mind around what she was being told. Annas? Who would they be taking to him at this hour? This must be someone terribly dangerous. She pulled her wrap off of the hook by the door and hung it across her shoulders. "Abba, I'll go; I'll stay close to Elias, so you don't have to worry." "Be safe," her father said, and Lydia was out the door. There was already a crowd forming, people slipping out of their houses in the dark to make their way towards the home of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. She couldn't see Elias, bu...

Crispus clenched the torch in his hand a little tighter. He didn't know what to expect--they were being led by a man who was a known associate of the one they were going to arrest. Sure, he had been paid handsomely for his promised betrayal, but who was to say they weren't walking into a trap? This man was stirring up people all over, and now even the Jewish leaders were against him. They said he was planning a revolution; what if it started with an ambush tonight? He trusted his training, but he couldn't help the nerves that were making him jittery. The shiftiness of the man leading their way didn't help matters, and neither did the insistence that they go under cover of night. Did this man really have so many followers that it would be dangerous to take him during the day? And had he really heard the man right when he said he would greet his friend with a kiss? What kind of people were they dealing with that one would betray the other with a kiss of friendship? T...

  "Now that whole generation, the generation that had walked with Moses— the generation that saw the walls of Jericho fall— that generation passed on, and another generation grew up after them, a generation that did not know the Eternal and had not seen the great works He had done for Israel." Judges 2:10 One generation. That's all it took for the people of Israel to turn away from God. That's all it took for them to forget all that God had done in the past and to turn to other things to worship. In Judges we're told that the people abandoned God. We live in a time and a society that is constantly saying to God, "...but what have You done for me lately?" A smooth path was laid out in front of us here in the United States. In the grand scheme of things, historically we really haven't had to face the struggles and issues that people around the world have faced and continue to face on a daily basis. That's not to say th...

I have a confession--I don't like to discipline my kids. When I threaten a consequence ("If you keep that up, you're going to lose x"), I really hope they will stop whatever that is because I don't want to take "x" away from them. I would much prefer to only have fun times with my kids. I love to see them smile...wouldn't you? It would be wonderful if I never had to tell them no, never had to correct them, never had to hurt their feelings. I would love to make sure their lives are full of laughter and happiness, where nothing is ever hard for them and the world gives them everything they could ever want. Here's the problem, though: I want my kids to grow up to be good people. I want them to develop a strong work ethic, good character, empathy, generosity, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (you caught me--I didn't come up with that list on my own...). As Helen Keller said, "Charac...

The Israelites had just experienced the impossible. Never mind the escape from Egypt, the parting of the sea, the food falling from the sky in the wilderness...or a whole host of other ways God's power had been shown. After all, we're 40 years removed from those times. This time, they had walked around Jericho for a week and then watched the walls fall. They'd been able to rush in and wipe out the entire city. They were told to burn everything except the metal. As an aside, there's a thought now that there was likely a plague in Jericho. If that were the case, it would definitely explain the importance of everything being destroyed and burned... The wall of Jericho wasn't some dinky thing. It was 5-6 ft thick and ranged from 12-17 ft high. The whole thing was surrounded by a ditch that had been dug out of solid rock, a pit that was 9 ft deep and 27 ft wide. Obviously, they would have been on top of the world after that. They could accomplish anything! So wh...

I read an article the other day a bout raising kids to have no concept of sin. I have to say, it was heartbreaking in so many different ways. Honestly, I almost don't even know where to start... First, I have to admit that my heart broke for the parents in the article. From what the article said, they both grew up going to church in what the author called "fundamentalist" homes. She talked about God as if He were some bitter, cynical judge who just wanted to throw the book at any rule breakers. She said she was always afraid of messing up; "sin" was like the hammer waiting to drop and crush her under its weight. I've got to say, I wouldn't want my kids to grow up with that view of God and sin, either. It's a sad truth that many people turn away from the perfect love of God because of the imperfections of people. All too often, people are hurt early in life by those associated with God, and those hurts get so deep that they cut all the way to t...