When the Menu is Manna

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.   Matthew 5:9 There was no way to anticipate what I would learn when I began to study the Beatitudes. The more I learned about these insightful teachings filled with wisdom from the Father, the more I became aware of what I lacked. There are days, especially the tough ones, when the idea of being a peacemaker seems distant. Sometimes it feels impossible, and making peace is not always the first thing on my mind. A piece of my mind would be more accurate. But in those moments, when life raises its ugly head, and I walk into conflict at home, at work, and yes, even in the church, I struggle and even grapple with resolve. Sometimes I resort to various depictions of a peacemaker, though I don't recommend them. The Ostrich, Bob, and the Lamb I don't buy these methods for peacemaking, well, maybe I have from time to time, but I don't suggest them. Some equate a peacemaker with the characteristics of an ostrich. Y...

  Just start walking...Perhaps this was Abram's (later Abraham's) motto, as seemingly out of nowhere, God called him, asking him to do something that, in my mind's eye, seemed to require a lot of a foreigner to God- one who did not even know who God was, let alone follow Him. Yet that is precisely what happened. Scripture never tells us what went on between the asking and the following. Oh, to be a fly on the wall between God's call and Abram's decision! I can imagine the family conversations, the weighing in or out of such an offer. The risk involved and the obscurity of this promise from a God unknown to Him. Yet Abram followed God right out of his comfort zone to a place he had never been, let alone heard of, all on the premise that God had chosen Abram to make him a great nation with descendants would be so vast that they would not be able to be measured by the grains of sand on the beach or the number of stars in the sky. I would like to know if Abram had any ...