Return to the Garden

God gives Adam some instructions on the care of creation and his role in the unfolding story. It's pretty basic, and very generous (see Gen. 2:16-17). But notice what God doesn't tell Adam. There is no warning or instruction over what is about to occur: the Temptation of Eve. This is just staggering.  Notably missing from the dialogue between Adam and God is something like this: "Adam, one more thing. A week from Tuesday, about four in the afternoon, you…

The spotted lanternfly is a pretty insect with speckled outer wings and a splotch of bright red on its inner wings that flashes when it flies. But its beauty is a bit deceptive. This insect, first seen in the US in 2014, is considered invasive to North America, which means it has the potential to harm the environment and economy. The lanternfly will “eat the innards of practically any woody plant,” which includes cherry and other fruit trees, and leaves a sticky…

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is near. Bathe in the reality of what’s to come. A renewed earth when all will be made right again. The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive. “The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them. Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs grow up together, and the lion eat straw like the ox. The nursing…

In an effort to give my brother and I a wholesome country upbringing, when I was six years old, my family moved from a lovely four bedroom home on a few acres in the Poconos that was built by my grandfather to our 77 acres of hunting land in Potter County, Pennsylvania. The mile-long “driveway”, which our Vermont relatives affectionately named the “goat path”, wound it’s way to the cabin at the top of the mountain (pictured above). It was one…

God heals the earth, and he heals us. We are restored to one another. The earth waits for our healing, and we wait for the earth’s healing. I believe our healing brings about something of the healing of the earth, and I’m certain the healed earth helps to usher in our healing. Our Enemy is the Great Divider. His most poisonous work takes place at the level of fragmentation, dividing families, churches, and fomenting racial hatred. He uses pain and suffering to…

Most of us are painfully aware of how much crime, violence, sin, and deprivation exist in our world today.  Traveling back in time and through scripture, we’ve become familiar with a climatic paradise that apparently needed no rain because it was watered by a mist coming up from the ground (Genesis 2:6).  There were no storms or harmful natural occurrences like hurricane Laura that recently decimated the South. Everything about God’s creation would…

“Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain” (Jude 11a ESV) Jude is referring to “people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” - as he noted earlier (v4) What about today? How ‘bout you? Jude highlighted the stark contrast between two identical “twins”, Cain and Abel. There was and never will be two people…

One of the keys to success in God's kingdom is learning to walk with him in humility. "Success" is subjective and will likely look different as we grow and change with the seasons of life and the seasons of our Christian journey. But it is a universal need to humbly partner with the Godhead, to adopt this posture and attitude in every area of life where we want to see success and Godly momentum. Being humble is showing deference or respect - it is the…

A segment from the YouVersion Bible App Plan, Dream Big, by Bob Goff. “The question, "Where are you?" is one of the first interactions we see in the Bible between God and the people like us that He made. When it got weird, Adam and Eve forgot who they were and hid. When God asked, "Where are you?", He wasn’t looking for a literal answer, of course. God knows everything, even if we don’t understand or won’t acknowledge it. He wasn&rsquo…