My family loves stories, and, together, we have read our way through everything from Laura Ingalls Wilder to J.R.R. Tolkien, either on the living room couch, at the dining room table, or in the car. For this reason, our brood is quite story-savvy, and it is not unusual to hear someone announce at some point in the… Continue reading Just One Thing: Foreshadowing
Category: Bible Study
Just One Thing: Heat
When I was a kid, the Pioneer Times used to publish just about anything. Our hometown post-mistress doubled as on-site reporter for the town's news, and there were weeks during the news-desert of mid-January when your second cousin's baby shower was ink-worthy, right down to the least-of-these who attended, " . . . and her… Continue reading Just One Thing: Heat
Just One Thing: Gates
"They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. "* Not exactly the stuff of which a "life verse" or a New Year's Resolution is made, But five times in Nehemiah's counter-clockwise tour of the wall we are confronted: What's the point of a walled city if the gates are not… Continue reading Just One Thing: Gates
Just One Thing: Camaraderie
Maybe the abundance of "picture perfect" lives on social media has made me cynical. Maybe I've been tenderized by the fact that my family has grown to a point where everyone offers (brutally) honest feedback on just what it was like to grow up Morin. Whatever the reason, when I read Nehemiah 3, and its eighteen occurrences of "next to… Continue reading Just One Thing: Camaraderie
Just One Thing: Opposition
The way in which a person responds to opposition reveals the stuff he's made of. Nehemiah had barely unpacked his toothbrush in the ruined city of Jerusalem when his enemies started sharpening their swords -- and their tongues. Commentator Derek Kidner writes, "Sanballat and Tobiah throw a long shadow over the story." The truth is that without… Continue reading Just One Thing: Opposition
Just One Thing: Politics
"The moment one life impinges on another, politics begin." Well said, Eugene Peterson (as usual), and certainly Nehemiah learned this lesson repeatedly in his quest to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. There is no avoiding politics because there is no avoiding power and its use and misuse. In Nehemiah's time, the minor officials of the… Continue reading Just One Thing: Politics
Just One Thing: “Awesome”
I have learned that it is curmudgeonly to quibble over words and their usage, but, having acknowledged that this is the case, I will take the risk of appearing to be a teensy bit cantankerous in order to get to the point of Nehemiah's prayer in chapter one of his Old Testament memoir. Derek Kidner's commentary… Continue reading Just One Thing: “Awesome”
Just One Thing: Urgency
The book of Nehemiah is a shining example of one man's methods of accomplishing his goals. Most of us lack the passion (or even the attention span) to mourn and pray and fast over anything for four months, even if it affects us personally. Nehemiah grieved over a problem that was a thousand miles away… Continue reading Just One Thing: Urgency
Just One Thing: Story Arc
I have a tendency to get stuck in time. It was true when I was single; it has been true of my days as a parent; it is true when my back flares up or when I am sick. I believe -- falsely -- that whatever is going on at the moment is insurmountable and… Continue reading Just One Thing: Story Arc
Living Our Days 