"This is a strange story," declares J.M. Creed. "Fantastic and grotesque," adds Joseph Fitzmyer. "Unsophisticated, with enough preposterous material to invite the scorn of the skeptic," concludes J. Pesch. These men are all esteemed New Testament scholars. Their statements refer to the story I just read (Luke 8:26-39). If you want a more local opinion, take it from the lady who edits the church page. In response to hearing the title of this morning's sermon, she simply said: "Yuk." But it is a good story. ...
I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but not everything that looks tame is tame. Like some of the animals that run around my neck of the woods. One Sunday afternoon, a little red fox scampered across our deck. Then, just a few nights ago, we froze him in our headlights on the side of the road. Maybe it wasn't the same fox. And maybe it wasn't a fox at all. Not that I would know. But Eric Sharp would. Eric knows all about the wilderness and writes about everything he knows. I've been reading him for ...