Do good to those hate you

Last updated on: March 30, 2010 at 5:37 pm By David Rupert

A handicapped Spokane woman who was inside a church at a prayer meeting had her powered wheelchair stolen by someone with apparently no shame. The woman, who suffers from MS and cerebral palsy, uses the chair for transportation around town. Because her church can’t accommodate the motored chair, she normally parked it outside the front entrance while other parishioners helped her into the church. But last week, as she was being helped outside to her chair after services, her chair was... Read more

Pieces

Last updated on: March 30, 2010 at 4:59 pm By David Rupert

When someone you care about Photo Courtesy Mary Schwalm goes away you don’t lose them all at once You lose them in pieces over time like the crisp leaves that drop from a tree in the late fall One by one each a sad reminder of days gone by Please, share with a friend if you feel moved. Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert Read more

Turning snow days into sun days

Last updated on: March 28, 2010 at 5:07 pm By David Rupert

We’re all aware of “snow days,” those blessed days when school is called off and kids spend the days sledding down frozen paths and designing snow men. Their frozen faces are melted only by hot chocolate and the sheer joy of zero responsibility for a single day. My fellow High Calling blogger Billy Coffey even wrote a novel extolling the virtues of the Snow Day. But one Washington school actually declared a “sun day” last week. That’s right – they called school... Read more

More than what we see

Last updated on: March 23, 2010 at 2:09 pm By David Rupert

When I look around at a physical world of decay and destruction, marked by disappointment and sorrow, I have to ask, “is this all there is?” Modern day philosophers tell us that meaning is found in what we see around us. That the natural world is all that we can ever hope for. According to modernity, all of our answers and our hope lie in humankind with no eternity, no plane beyond the one which we can see and touch. And by... Read more

Junkyard Blues

Last updated on: March 18, 2010 at 2:26 pm By David Rupert

Millions of cars are replaced each year. Faster, newer models replace the old cars that we once held dear. How many vehicles have you been through? Where do the old cars go? Some are recycled. Others end up in any one of thousands of junkyards scattered across the nation.These junkyards hold a little of everything Tractors without wheels, cement trucks, busses gutted and left with only rotting frames. Old sedans and pickup trucks litter the landscape, hoping that there is... Read more

Seeds of change: How will we impact tomorrow?

Last updated on: March 16, 2010 at 6:00 am By David Rupert

(This is also today’s featured post over at High Calling Blogs ) Two years ago, on a remote Norwegian island in the Arctic Ocean, a massive underground seed bank opened. The Svalbard Seed Vault serves as a repository of more than 500,000 seeds representing nearly 1/3 of the world’s food crops. The bank consists of three secure rooms at the end of the 427-foot tunnel blasted out of the frozen mountain. The seeds are sealed in four-ply foil pouches, and then stored... Read more

Garbage collectors

Last updated on: March 15, 2010 at 8:14 am By David Rupert

Each day, while driving to work, I pass the central facility and office for a garbage collection company. The collectors clock in, get their assignments, and then grab the keys to their vehicles. They start them up and they rumble out of the yard, one by one, fanning out across the city to collect people’s waste. At some point, these trucks will fill up. There’s only so much that can collect before they will have to go to the landfill... Read more

Oblivious

Last updated on: March 11, 2010 at 3:46 pm By David Rupert

‘I had no idea it was that bad.’ We’ve all said that when we have had friends or coworkers who went through a major emotional change in their life. A marriage on the rocks. An attempted suicide. A deep depression. A loss of hope. Who knew? We were oblivious to their need. Most of our daily interactions are strictly surface relationships. We barely scratch below the well-crafted façade. A quick chat in the elevator or a hello past a cubicle.... Read more

The Jesus action figure

Last updated on: March 7, 2010 at 4:00 pm By David Rupert

If you need a little reminder of the Savior, Amazon.com offers you just the ticket — the Jesus action figure. The advertisement asks, “Can you use a miracle today?” The action figures stands 5″ tall and features glow-in-the-dark hands! He comes in an illustrated window box with 8 accessories: a jug, 2 fish, and 5 loaves of bread. At first I scoffed outright at this vain commercialization of God Incarnate. But then I got to thinking. This action figure is much... Read more

Linking to the world

Last updated on: March 4, 2010 at 4:01 pm By David Rupert

I would be honored if you read my contribution to the group book review of Real-Time Connections by Bob Roberts Jr. over at Bible Dude. The portion of the book I reviewed focuses on “Linking to the World.” Robert’s points out the obvious global shift we have had. All of the information is flattened thanks to television, telephones and international travel. Tribes and cultures are now dispersed across the planet and the enclaves we once thought safe are now in the... Read more

Who was the major prophet during King Hezekiah's reign in Judah?