Timothy's Thoughts

Here’s something that caught my eye. Sharon Hinck has a special kit for book clubs . For the price of eight books ($119), you can get eight books, a literary guide, a discussion guide, a party planner, leader checklist, a DVD from Sharon Hinck, and graphics for invitations, posters, and evites. I would have to see the DVD before I would pass judgment on it, but it appears to be something that book clubs might find useful. If they are planning on buying eight copies of the book anyway, then they really don’t have anything to lose.

A few years ago, there was a science fiction series on television called Firefly. It was highly entertaining, but the network quickly canceled it. It wasn’t perfect, but I won’t go into all of that. I do want to mention one episode, Jaynestown. The B plot of this episode has the characters River and Shepherd Book back on the ship. Shepherd is a preacher. River is a super smart woman who has been driven to near insanity by the government. She gets a hold of Shepherd’s Bible and decides that she is going to fix it. She starts tearing out pages as she goes because she finds things that she believes are incorrect, things like creation and the ark protecting the animals from the great flood. Shepherd tells her that the Bible doesn’t have to make sense because it is really just about believing in something. Later, she tells him that she is sorry that she tore the pages out of his symbol and she wants to put them back. Obviously, Shepherd is not a good preacher. Rather than showing ...

I have a question that I would love to know the answer to, if anyone cares to give an opinion: Why would a woman decide to leave a husband who loves her?

We sometimes forget that it is God who determines who will rule a country. In America, we question how this is possible. We got to vote. We cast our vote. Our votes are counted. Both the saints and the heathens vote, but the Bible tells us that it is God who puts men in power. How can this be? Do you remember Micaiah? He was a prophet, but he was such a minor prophet that he didn’t get a book in the Bible. He is mentioned in two places I Kings 22 and II Chronicles 18, but these passages describe one incident. Israel and Judah were going to war, so the kings called four hundred prophets before them to tell them how they would do in battle. The prophets told them what they wanted to hear, that they would go to battle and be victorious, but Jehoshaphat king of Judah didn’t trust them and asked for a prophet of the Lord to be called. So in comes Micaiah. He tells Jehoshaphat to go and prosper, but he tells Ahab that he will die. Then he tells the vision that he saw. The Lord...

Have you every wanted to impress God? Have you thought about what you can do that would impress God? Can we impress him with our offerings? Our money already belongs to him. Can we impress him with our service? Perhaps, but it is so easy for us to fail in our service to the Lord. There is an account in the Bible that shows a person that God seems to be impressed with and it is in one of the most unlikely places. Do you remember reading about King Ahab? If you don’t remember, he was the guy who was married to Jezebel. He was an evil guy. In describing him, the Bible states, “there was none like unto Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.” (I Kings 21:25 KJ21) In other words, not only was he a bad guy, he was a very bad guy. There had never been a king as bad as he was. One of the things that he did was that when Naboth refused to sell his vineyard, he had him killed in a very public and very gruesome fashion. If you read I Kings 21...

Michael Hyatt recently blogged about preparing for a half-marathon . In stating why we should listen to him, a person who has not been running very long, he states: My lack of experience is precisely what qualifies me to speak on the topic. When I got started, most of the advice I received was from veteran runners. They knew a lot about running—as a veteran runner. But apparently they had forgotten what it was like to be a beginner. I still remember. Why should we listen? Because he is an expert on being a beginner. I'm not planning on running a marathon or a half-marathon, but I do have a lot to say about a lot of things and I often wonder why people should listen to me when there are so many expert out there who know so much more than I do. They are the ones who have it all figured out, not me. With the exception of a few things, I'm not an expert on things, but I am on this journey, seeking to learn, like everyone else. That is what qualifies us non-experts to speak. ...