Walking The Walk . . .

The widely used IHS Christogram originated in the 7th Century A.D. We were in church not too long ago, and my daughter asked me about the symbol in the center of the cross on the altar, and what it meant.  In truth, I knew what it represented, it represents Jesus Christ, but I'm not sure I ever knew where it had originated. It's a good example of one of those symbols I've seen frequently, knew what it meant, but hadn't really explored its origins.  So Katie and I did a little research one evening. It's called a Christogram, and it represents Jesus Christ.  The symbol is based on the first three letters of Jesus' name in Greek.  ΙΗΣΟΥΣ.  The symbol was first seen on coins at the end of the 7th century.  So it's been around for a long time.  Most commonly, it features the letters IHS, but sometimes you'll also see it using the intials IHC.  Both versions mean exactly the same thing and are based off the same greek word for Jesus. The Chi Rho Chr

I didn't come from a family of church goers.  I found God through my best friend Jim growing up--his family were believers, and they didn't miss church.  I'd often spend the night there on Saturday nights, and you can bet we all went to church on Sunday morning.  Without fail.  And I liked it.  It was my first exposure to God, the Holy Bible, and the church.  And it was then that I became a lifelong student of the Bible, and a believer.  After six or seven years of tagging along to church with my friend's family, one Sunday morning when the call went out, I stepped forward.  My friend Jim's father baptized me that Sunday--that was in 1983 and in many ways the beginning of my life. I continued to attend that little church until I enlisted, and after I was done with Uncle Sam, I joined a larger church and worshiped there for many years--I was in the choir, played the piano, and attended Bible study.  Since then I've attended a number of churches, but I haven&#

"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."  ~Proverbs 16:9     There's few things in life that challenge me more than my schedule.  I'm not alone.  I know many people with that same issue.  I've been doing better at it over the last several months by using the bullet journal and keeping track of where my time goes--where I'm spending too much, and where I'm not spending enough. I was talking to a friend of mine a couple weeks ago, and he said something interesting.  He gardens, and he spends a lot of time in his garden.  He said when it comes to gardening the key question is, what do you want to grow?  Once you decide what you want to grow, you figure out how much space you'll need, and how much time you're going to have to care for the garden--it's easy to plant a garden, it's far more difficult to tend it.  He said first time gardeners always make the same mistake--they plant a garden way larger than they h

"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." ~Hebrews 12:14 Part of the human experience is dealing with difficult people.  Everyone at one point or another is going to deal with somebody that wants to steal our peace.  Who wants to cause a fuss.  Who is constantly offended.  Who is looking for a reason to be difficult with you. Our natural inclination is to push back.  If they want a problem, then I'll give them one!  It may feel good to give a foolish person a piece of our mind from time to time, but we actually become the fool when we do that. Arguing and fighting and bickering is not what Christians are called on to do.  We're called on to live in peace.  We're called on to show love for our enemies.  We're called on to be an example to others. That doesn't mean the person yanking our chain isn't going to continue yanking on our chain.  It doesn't mean our detractors and our enemi