Sweet Spot of Truth

 

Friday, November 17, 2023

…we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.  Ephesians 4:15

In his book Talk the Walk, pastor and author Steve Brown writes:

A number of years ago, John Whitehead – an attorney, author, and The Rutherford Institute’s founder and president – gave me a bumper sticker that read in big bold letters,

[1]

When you’re anywhere near the line dividing left from right, you’re holding some things (at least) in the middle.  I’ve followed pastor Steve Brown’s teachings for about twenty years, and I can say with no hesitation, he finds that place which removes one from being identified…politically.  For a Christian, that is what golfers refer to as the sweet spot – that place on your golf club where the club face ought to strike the ball for the best distance and accuracy.  The further right or left you move takes the Christian witness and message down a notch or two.

News media love to exploit events to attract advertising revenue; that’s their sweet-spot, a settled business fact.  You cannot pay your employees without selling soap!  Last week in Charlotte, videos went viral of a woman being subdued by police with obvious physical force, for allegedly smoking marijuana in public. 

Immediate responses were typical; the politically-left side immediately crying the foul of police brutality, while the politically-right side cited the police use of force as appropriate peace-keeping.  The third response, one I say at the risk of putting words in pastor Steve Brown’s mouth, is:  Let’s wait for the investigation before we burst a right or left blood vessel.

Another preacher, a very good friend and close associate of Jesus, named Apostle Paul, executed by the Roman government took that third (and less-traveled) road of giving truth a chance to come to the winner’s circle.  Paul was no stranger to mob violence.  According to Acts 14:19 he was stoned, dragged out of town, and left for dead.  Still, Paul counsels speaking the truth, as did Jesus, and letting truth set whatever wrong to the right. 

Slinging slogans around is a political club.  Those who shout:  Speak truth to power are presenting only half the case; we should also speak truth to the powerless.  Truth is for all, and that will set anyone free, if they will place the matter in the Master’s hand, and give it time.

For You Today 

If you lean left, or lean right, try to keep in mind that leaning is the next step in falling…falling prey to the enemy’s invitation to his side.  Better to rest in the sweet-spot of truth with Godly longsuffering, than hitting your last ball of free-will out of bounds!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Steve Brown, Talk the Walk, (Greensboro, NC, New Growth Press, 2019), p.13

Deception's Farce

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.  They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition?  For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”  Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?  For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’  But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you.  For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’  In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents.  And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.  You hypocrites!  Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,  ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”  Matthew 15:1-9

If your first thought after reading this exchange between Jesus and his detractors was how Jesus never answered their question, you may have the same problem they did.  The Pharisees and Scribes were nitpickers, focusing like a laser-rocket on tiny details, rather than the larger picture.  But that was not their main problem; secretly, they were more committed to their agenda than getting at the truth.  Jesus had been teaching people how to love and honor God.  The critical committee was “concerned” the disciples might have a germ on their hands when eating.  To the uninformed listener, or someone who bought-into the Pharisees’ authority and credentials, it may have sounded like high-holy righteousness.  However, Jesus saw through their deceit; they were trying to find enough fault to pick him and his teachings apart.  Jesus rebuked them by showing their hypocrisy.

There is a particularly ludicrous form of that deceptive hypocrisy in the culture of the 21^st century.  It is the nit-picking (so-called) “spirituality” of those who have never truly knelt at the foot of the cross and experienced the forgiveness of Christ’s love.  Among the leaders of such are those who came close to the faith, but turned and walked-away.  Having a glimpse of salvation’s glory (and cost), they must self-validate their empty decision to reject the Lord of Glory by tearing his followers apart.  I have seen it too many times to miss this…the most vehement of those who would destroy the Kingdom’s grace in others are those who would never kneel to the Lordship of He who came to forgive and save.  Like the Pharisees, they say they serve the cause of good, but their hearts have fingers crossed behind their backs.

For You Today 

If you have recognized yourself in this, from either side of being guilty, or the target of the guilty, there is only one response…forgiveness.  Offer forgiveness freely if you’ve been attacked; pray for forgiveness if you’ve blundered enough to be the attacker.  Living a life of eternal truth is to destroy every last bit of hypocrisy that wants to eat your soul alive.  Anything less is a deceptive farce; it certainly isn’t worship!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Leading By Circular Logic

Friday, October 20, 2023

And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches.  I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ.  And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world.  As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:  Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you.  Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.  Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.  And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.  In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.  And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  1 Peter 5:1-5

Apostle Peter addresses elders, leaders in God’s church, with instruction on how to lead.  This instruction is mostly about the attitude of a leader.  Note the words the big fisherman uses about the tenderness with which a church leader leads the flock entrusted to him:  care…watch over…lead by example.  And then Peter closes the door on the matter with the fact that humility covers all of it.

There are two caveats we must add to this leadership seminar of Peter’s:

1.    Leaders cannot lead this way unless followers follow this way.

2.    True followers will follow if leaders lead this way.

Every instruction God ever gave is predicated on the truth of God’s creation.  Those upon whom God places His call to lead in the church must respond to God’s call by leading selflessly, caring for the flock without pursuing personal gain.  Those who follow must respond, expecting to follow.  It’s a form of “circular logic” and requires trust (faith) in all directions.

Circular logic (or circular reasoning) is most often defined in a pejorative, or belittling sense.  With those for whom logic is the only acceptable pathway, the idea of faith must never cloud the issue.  That person would say about God, prove to me that God exists.  Believers answer that without faith (defined as a blind-leap without proof) it is impossible.  But if you believe (trust) He is real, you will have all the proof you need.  Another way to express that is from the atheist view:

An atheist says:  I won’t believe in God until I see Him.

A believer responds:  You’ll never see Him until you believe.

This same issue is true in the Leader/Follower issue Peter presented in his epistle:

Skeptical Christian:  I won’t trust or follow unless that leader is proven worthy

God’s Word replies: Have faith and by your faith I’ll make that leader worthy.

For You Today 

Is faith a form of circular logic? 

Absolutely!  

It begins with:  

In the beginning God…

It flows through:  

For God so loved…that He gave…

It ends full circle with:  

Even so, come Lord Jesus…

Circular logic may make the hair stand up on the back of a scientist’s or philosopher’s neck, but faith begins in the heart of a human being, created by God, for His glory and our good.  It won’t float in this world’s view, but for those who respond in faith, they will see God face to face.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Shipwrecked Faith

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear.  For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.  1 Timothy 1:19

Everyone is born with faith; life is a series of faith choices, both good and poor.  When we place our faith in a chair, by sitting on it, we exercise our faith that the chair will hold us up.  If it does, it was well-placed faith.  If we place our faith in a man who whispers to us on the street corner….psst, buddy…you want a great deal?  I got these Rolex watches worth twenty grand each; sell ya one for $75.  Chances are rather strong, our faith in that guy will rust as fast as the watch.

It's one thing to be naïve about the worth of a trinket; it’s quite another matter to allow preconceived notions about God shipwreck our faith.  Faith, in spiritual matters. is supposed to guide our choices towards God’s open arms.  Misplaced trust in anything other than God’s will and way leads to a shipwreck of our faith.  Sometimes we cling to a hope that is ill-founded merely because it sounded good, or real when we first heard it from a friend.  We didn’t run it through the God-filter; instead, we just believed it (placed our faith in it), and couldn’t believe how badly it turned-out.  It’s like the story of the man who worried himself over the question of whether life wasn’t fooling him, and he began to think he was dead.  He started believing it and telling everyone he was dead.  No friend or family member could convince him otherwise.  Finally they got him into therapy.  The psychiatrist had no better result; the man thought he was dead.  Frustrated, the shrink decided on a graphic, undeniable test.  He asked the troubled man:  Do dead men bleed?  The man said:  No, dead men don’t bleed.  With that, the shrink pulled out a pin, pricked the man’s arm with it, and it started to bleed.  The shrink pointed to the man’s arm and asked:  So what do you make of that?  The man, now puzzled, finally offered:  Well, I’ll be durned…dead men DO bleed!

What Apostle Paul was telling Timothy is a stern warning for any one of us to beware of letting our faith settle on anything that won’t pass the blood test.  There is so much heat these days on television news, social media, blogs and vlogs galore, which promote hatred, violence, and rebellion, as well as perversity as a normative good choice, if that’s what you want.  That kind of stuff conflates a small amount of truth about political and sociological problems, with isolated Biblical verses to create a wedge of doubt between your conscience and the good sense given to you by God’s kindness.  We can fall victim to good sounding, but false theories of how to view the world.  We can be like Eve who heard the serpent whisper did God REALLY say that?  Satan even used that tactic, quoting Scripture to Jesus (way out of context, of course); the devil was tempting Jesus to abandon the Father’s mission and serve the darkness of Hell.  In all three of the temptations recorded in Matthew[1], Jesus denied Satan’s offer with Scripture, appropriately interpreted, countering Satan’s use of twisted Scripture.

For You Today 

We must use our faith, nurture our faith, and grow in our faith.  But we must be careful to grow straight, rather than crooked.  To grow straight requires bathing our worldview in the Word of God.  There is nothing about popular worldview opinions that can match the strength of God’s Word to avoid shipwrecking our faith.  Paul gave this advice to his young ministry student, Timothy:

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval.  Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] See Matthew 4:1-11

Facts...Questions...Answer

Friday, September 15, 2023

When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom.  

    The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way! 

    The water of the Jordan River turned away.  

    The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs!
        What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way? 

        What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?
        Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?  Why, hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.  He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.  Psalm 114:1-8

Every kid whose eyes were glued to a black-and-white 11” TV screen in the 1950’s knew if you wanted to solve a murder mystery, Dragnet’s Sergeant Joe Friday was your guy!  The police were called, and Sgt Friday showed up to investigate.  The dialogue always included his no-nonsense, deadpan, direct approach; he didn’t want anything but the truth.  He would cut through speculation and side-issues with his piercing eyes and flatly require:  Just the facts, ma’am!

Had I paid more attention to Joe Friday’s relentless pursuit of truth, I would have figured-out Psalm 114 a lot sooner.  I’ve read it many times, but missed the main flow of God’s truth until it thundered in my ears in this morning’s dark, early hours.  There are facts, followed by questions, and only one answer.

The Psalmist states the facts about when Israel made her exodus from Egyptian bondage:

   …the Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of the way to let them pass.

   …the Jordan River felt the first steps of the marching band and turned aside.

   …the mountains and hills skipped for joy like playful rams and lambs.

Then he asked why all the hurrying, turning, and skipping for joy?  All those facts, and all those questions (and many more throughout history), but only one answer:  The Presence of the Lord, God who does the unexpected, unimaginable, and totally-documented undeniable.

This was Israel’s history on a platter for us all to digest…the God who is unseen to human eyes, but ever-present for anyone with an open and reverent heart to see, know, and love, is He who makes the hills cry-out in praise, like animals skipping for joy, and the water going where He directs.

For You Today 

It’s one thing to do a bunch of stuff for people in ancient history; it’s a totally different matter when what He does is for every person in every era, age, or circumstance.  And it was more wonderful than making the hills and mountains scurry, or splashing the waters around; God dressed himself in mortal flesh and died for our sins.  And then he kicked the tomb-door open and proclaimed that we can do the same.  That, as Joe Friday would say, is an open and shut case!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Living As People of Light

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.  Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you.  Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.  Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.  Don’t participate in the things these people do.  For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.  So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.  Ephesians 5:1-9

Apostle Paul begins this part of his letter to the believers at Ephesus with:

·       what to do (imitating God),

·       with the middle part telling us how to do it (thankfulness to God instead of self-centered obscenity),

·       and he ends it by pointing to:  what that will make of us (people of light, shining as good, right, and true.

Considering the culture in which we find ourselves in the 21^st Century, this passage would be a great one to memorize.  We live in a “coarse” society.  The word means rough, uneven, or raw.  That means we live in a hard place to navigate.  Waters like that produce sunken ships, and tragedy. 

The news (whether biased, or straight-up) screams loudly that Paul was talking about days like we now experience.  Prolonged times like this produce children who have little respect for authority.  And that is largely because they see very little worthy of admiration.  Sometimes it becomes obvious that children who are obnoxious and selfish are (at least) just acting out their natural inclination to rebel against what is not worthy of following. 

One of my friends was very fond of this saying about parenting techniques:  Your children’s learning will be more caught than taught.  You may be familiar with that if you have raised, or are raising kids; you can talk to them till you’re blue-in-the-face, but what they really learn is what they see in your actions. 

So the Apostle was getting at what we all need to learn…telling your children what to do isn’t the same as showing them how you do it.  It hardly needs saying, but do as I say…not as I do is the kind of hypocrisy children can sniff-out in a New York minute…and the smell of it ain’t pretty!  The year I turned 30 I was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day.  Public service announcements were just starting to ramp-up then, about how dangerous tobacco was for your health.  I quit that year because I noticed my five-year-old son walking around with a pencil in his hand, imitating Daddy’s habit.

Imitating God (as Paul states it) isn’t about playing God.  Rather, it’s about becoming like Jesus, unselfish, willing to sacrifice for the good of others.  This is the textbook definition of Agape’, God’s covenant love…doing the best for others unconditionally.  Without that we cannot live in the light, shining as goodness and truth; we remain in darkness.

For You Today 

So, whether this means you need to work on cleaning-up some habits, changing some attitudes, or whatever, remember that there are little eyes watching you, learning from you; lead them well.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

An Elephant in the Room Kind of Thing

 

Monday, August 14, 2023

For God did not spare even the angels who sinned.  He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.  And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family.  Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment.  So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.  Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes.  He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.  But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.  Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.  So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.  He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.  These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling.  2 Peter 2:2-10

There is a very common, albeit empty-headed trend today, as in the days of Noah:

Whistling in the darkness – imagining that since God is only loving, there can never be judgment for sin.  Scripture, however, answers:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27

Denying the existence of Hell and judgment, in favor of universal redemption, is (at least) the work of fools, uninitiated as to the eternal consequences of sin!  Denying judgment places one squarely in the crosshairs, a target for Satan’s lies.  If the enemy cannot convince someone that there is no God, the next evil tactic will be to blunt the idea that God would punish sin.  Scripture replies:

For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule:  The person who sins is the one who will die.  Ezekiel 18:4

The Scripture speaks to the spiritual argument, but (for those who lean to the skeptical side) there is also logic.  The logic of punishment speaks to the nature of God, including His love for all He has created.  There are abundant numbers of proofs from logic at this point, but for time’s sake, we consider just this one truth:

Equal, but Opposite

In physical dynamics there is for each action an equal, but opposite reaction.    UP requires (by definition) DOWN, HOT means there must be COLD, and RIGHTEOUSNESS demands we are capable of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.  Evil and Good cannot coexist without the consequences of either.  For there to be a REWARD (Heaven), there must be RECOMPENSE (Hell).  Evil requires punishment in the same way righteousness deserves reward, or God cannot, in fact, be good.  The corollary then would be:  to avoid death, forgiveness must intervene, or, if God does not step-in, death in its eternal finality must ensue.

For You Today 

Billy Graham once said:  If the Bible is false, then nothing matters, and if the Bible is true, the Bible is all that matters.  And this is what Scripture said about the penalty of sin being death, and how God intervenes:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

Placing one’s faith in God, through Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross, is the only means of forgiveness for our sins.  It’s free for the repenting and asking!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

Title Image:  1) Pixabay.com   2) Pixabay.com  (images combined)

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Life's Wider Picture

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.  I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.  When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.  Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.  Guard them, for they are the key to life.  Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.  Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.  Turn away and keep moving.  For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.  They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.  They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!  The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.  They have no idea what they are stumbling over.  My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words.  Don’t lose sight of them.  Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.  Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.  Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.  Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.  Proverbs 4:10-27

A question which I have always viewed with a little watchful skepticism is: 

Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, or 25 years?

Watchfulness over my answer is a matter of following the instruction my coach in high school gave me about hitting; he said:  keep your eye on the ball!  So my skeptical eye doesn’t have contempt for looking ahead to make plans, but rather objecting to such a short view.  As a life-navigator, I would rather see the end goal…it’s easier to chart a straight course that way.  And to do that for a life-plan you need to step back, get higher in the balcony, and see the bigger picture.

That snapshot of planning a life from the mere wisp of time we are granted on this planet, 50, 60, or 110 years, is way too short a focus.  Planning where and how you want your life to make an impact demands looking down the road for generations to come, even into eternity.  I’d rather start from the longest point from now, and work backwards to the present.

Now, many people would say:  That’s impossible; you don’t know the future.  And I would certainly have to agree that I don’t know the future, but I certainly can plan-for, and step-towards a goal I set for the future.

That is where Solomon’s wise advice comes in.  Wisdom for setting a life’s course begins with developing a worldview based on the light of truth, leaving evil and darkness in the dust behind you.  All else is meaningless (vanity if King James is a “must” for you). 

Only truth will guard your heart from sinking-into, and following evil.  When truth governs your heart, it will keep your mouth from perverse-speak; strength, healing and kindness will be your legacy, and it will last through eternity.

For You Today 

If you will let Solomon’s godly light of truth guard your heart today, and always, then 5, 20, or two-million years from now, your words and life’s impact on all who cross your path, will stand true, while evil is long forgotten. 

Prophet Isaiah has our last word today:

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Isaiah 40:8

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Ears Open - Heart Straight - Eyes on the Road - Sure Foot  and  Small Package - Big Message  and  When the Killing is Done                                        

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©