“Told you so!”

Now, there’s a phrase we typically enjoy saying, but  we universally hate hearing!

I love the way Paul does it, however.  Here’s a quick backstory:

Falsely accused by his own countrymen, Paul has played his “I’m a Roman citizen” card and appealed to the Supreme Court, (i.e., Caesar), which gives him a one-way all expenses paid trip to the capitol.  This meant a voyage by sea, which could be tricky based on the time of year.  Putting in at one less-than-luxurious small town port, the sailors think they can make it to the next spot before the weather turns bad.

Fragrance of summer grill

Probably one of the most popular activities at church parties is volleyball; that is, volleyball in some form.  Because we all know it comes in several creative variations: mud volleyball (a personal favorite, although I’ve never had the opportunity…yet), volleyball with a big inflatable beach ball, and even the old-fashioned kind is still just so much fun on a sunny day with the fragrance of grilling happening in the background.

This, only with volleyball!! (www.utdallas.edu)

 

Such was the situation one morning in our church, as we were setting up for our annual Block Party for the town.

With so many preparations whirling around, a small group of us were fixing the volleyball net, well-used as it was with its holes and tears and tangles and knots.  It can make one appreciate just how L-O-N-G a volleyball is!  There must have been some discouragement as to whether or not it was

Lion tamers, to name a few

Gary Smalley, a gifted family counselor and founder of the Smalley Relationship Center, conceived a simple personality test using four animals as examples; the lion is used in his demonstration as one who tends to have inherent leadership potential, but is also fraught with some significant relational challenges.  I’m thinking the Apostle Paul was, perhaps, one of these:

“Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to

Blogging Blast #5: Once Upon a Time…(I do so love stories)

I have no analogy today, but a story.  So here goes: once upon a time…

…I read a little book, the first in a series entitled “Bible Guides”, which premiered in the early 1960’s.  It was authored by biblical theologian William Barclay, who, at the time of this publishing, was Professor of New Testament at the University of Glasgow.  This first little study book is entitled “The Making of the Bible”.  Now all that might sound a bit stuffy, (unless you like that sort of thing, which I do), until you get to about page 67.

This is where Dr. Barclay starts talking about how the