The Keener Way

  You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Say what?? Indeed. In Yeshua's sermon on how to live as one of his disciples, He takes a very sudden shift from "blessed are they" to talking about candles and table salt. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16, BSB  There's a few interesting pieces to this section. And we can nearly fill an entire lesson with salt alone. Salt was a valuable thing in ancient times. There was an era where merchants traded North African salt for...

  "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you." ~Matthew 5:10-12, BSB In His Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua desired to teach His followers the way to be His followers. A type of "you have already become my disciple, you've already repented, already committed to learning my way of life, so here is how I live" The interesting part of this lesson though, starts with the word "persecuted". In Greek, this is "dediōgmenoi", which actually means "to pursue continually" . Which oddly enough can go two ways, depending on the context. For instance, although Psalm 23:6 was written in Hebrew, this Greek word would fit in the context of "goodness and m...

  A couple weeks ago now, I had the opportunity to do some urban exploring in our nation's capitol. This was not my first time visiting DC, but it was only my second, and the first time had been multiple years ago. I could visit more often. Its not like I don't only live ninety minutes away. But other than visiting a couple very specific museums, I'm not sure I really like the idea of spending much time there. Especially after this last visit. Now, the above photo is not mine. I got it off the internet. But I wanted a good, clear shot of the Lincoln Memorial. Cuz here's the thing. I'm not gonna go on a rant about our nations founders and the weird and creepy cultish things some of them may or may not have been involved in. But someone, somewhere along the way, had some really weird and creepy fantasies in their heads. For starters, the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated in 1922, is exactly a Greek temple. In an era of prohibition of alcohol, Billy Sunday evangelism, and wo...

  In continuing with Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount, we're going to spice things up a bit. Rather than looking at one verse, we're going to hit three. Or at least start and see if we get that far. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:7-9, BSB In the Roman Empire that ruled during Yeshua's lifetime. mercy was a sign of weakness. Even in the Greek Empire, it was not seen as a virtue. The respected virtues were strength and power, not kindness. Yet Jewish and Christian cultures dared to be counter-culture. They pushed the view that mercy was an attribute of the divine. Indeed, a core attribute. For as the prophet Micah declared, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy , and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8, BSB But here, in Hi...

  The scene you are witnessing is a view not dissimilar to what I imagine the Hebrews experienced as they exited the Arabian wilderness and approached the Promised Land. It is, in fact, a view of leaving the Great Sand Dunes National Park and approaching the peaks of the beautiful San Isabel State Forest. I woke up on Tuesday, June 1, 2024, with a very woeful anguish inside, knowing that this was my last day in Colorado. Tomorrow, I would be taking my east-bound roadtrip. Dreaded for being multiple thousand miles, and dreaded for going into later timezones. It would feel significantly longer than coming. Yet that was not today, that was tomorrow. I still had one more day to play hard and adventure fully. And I was going to make the best of it. Assembling a group of four, we first headed to Walmart for a supply of bananas. Why? Don't ask. We simply randomly decided that we needed some bananas, and that's all there was to it. Once our mission was accomplished, we happily munched ...

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 This fourth blessing of Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount draws many similarities to Psalm 42, a song of the sons of Korah, which begins with those long familiar lines, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after you, O God." Psalm 42:1 BSB And it seems pretty straightforward. Be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and you will be satisfied. But let's explore the word 'righteousness'. Growing up, it always seemed like kind of a vague concept. It comes up frequently enough in scripture to gather the idea that it's about being upright, being morally pure, being good, etcetera. In a general sense, the keeping of the law. Which is a fairly intense undertaking, considering that Yeshua said, "except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Obviously, this is something that...

  So, to continue from the last story, how did we manage to walk ourselves into a spectacular view of sunset over Nipple Mountain, while wandering around in the Pueblo downtown? Well, after exploring Garden of the Gods and touring Glen Eyrie Castle, we headed to Cave of the Winds Adventure Park. The first agenda was to take some pictures from the parking lot, because the view was still as breathtaking as ever. Step two of the adventure was to do some rock wall climbing, Geronimo's leap, and a high ropes course. But wouldn't you know it, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in, closing all the attractions right before we started. So we strolled around inside the visitor center, looking at the gift shop, watching the rain and lightning, and talking about life, till the storm finally blew over and we stepped out on a balcony to take pictures of the canyon below us while waiting for the attractions to re-open. Thirty minutes after the last lightning, the adventure park activities final...