... . Then they would play a game on Saturday morning where they all forgot or refused to remember the fundamentals they had learned and just ran around the field like a swarm of locusts. Brian’s son, Jake, was a big, tough kid for his age, with a talent for blocking, and Brian said that, basically, the team had three plays that sometimes worked: 1) Quarterback run behind Jake; 2) Running back run behind Jake; and 3) Punt. Brian said that he spent a lot of their practice time teaching and making sure the kids ...
... dreamer to death had been used by God to keep Jacob's family alive. They meant it for evil -- God meant it for good. For a few thousand years, people have loved this long, complicated story of Joseph and his brothers. If we had the time and the talent to tell our story, my story, your story, they, too, would be long and complicated, full of twists and turns. And could we tell our story with such unflinching realism and honesty as the story of Joseph and his brothers? Whenever we look at our lives, we tend ...
... parable some good advice for the future. But it is not the advice one might get from someone like Ann Landers. In most newspaper advice columns and in most secular therapy, people in distress and turmoil are encouraged to dig down, to draw upon their natural talent and resources. In this parable it's different. We are urged to stride into the future with confidence, not confidence in ourselves or our abilities, but confidence in the power and grace of God. The one who told the story is Jesus, the one who ...