Posts by jhumphries
Passing By
June 27, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 119:113-128Mark 6:45-52This weekend’s reading: Colossians 2:6-8 FIELD NOTES In verse 48, there’s a short sentence that we modern readers of the Bible might get confused with. The verse says (in the NRSV): “He intended to pass them by.” What does that mean? Was Jesus on his way somewhere else and…
Read MoreSafety by Another Way
June 26, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 119:113-128Acts 27:39-44This weekend’s reading: Colossians 2:6-8 FIELD NOTES There’s nothing about this story from Acts that sounds or feels safe. After being pummeled in a storm for two weeks, the exhausted crew finally sees land, though they don’t recognize where they are or if the land is safe for…
Read MoreThe Least Likely Leader
June 25, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 119:113-128Acts 27:13-38This weekend’s readings: Colossians 2:6-8 FIELD NOTES Paul’s journey’s through the closing chapters of the Book of Acts are miraculous accounts of God’s provident grace in the midst of trial, hardship, and disaster. Paul, a Jewish/Christian prisoner, is the least likely to take the reins of leadership on a…
Read MoreTrue Friendship
June 23, 2018 DAILY READING 1 Samuel 18:1-4This weekend’s readings: John 17:20-26 FIELD NOTES “David and Jonathan provide us with perhaps the most intriguing story of friendship in the Bible. Theirs is a relationship of loyalty, trust, and support. Every time we read this story it leads us to the question: What kind of friend am…
Read MoreBe a Witness!
June 22, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 107:1-3This weekend’s readings: John 17:20-26 FIELD NOTES Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out.All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression,Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas.– from The Message translation QUESTIONS FOR…
Read MoreLucky
June 21, 2018 DAILY READING Acts 20:1-16This weekend’s readings: John 17:20-26 FIELD NOTES In today’s story, Paul is preaching for so long and so late into the night that a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, falls asleep and falls out the window, falling to the ground three stories below! Miraculously, he…
Read MoreDo Not Judge
June 20, 2018 DAILY READING Luke 6:43-45This weekend’s readings: John 17:20-26 FIELD NOTES According to the Wesley Study Bible, “The prohibition against passing judgment is not based upon the inadequacy of human knowledge. In fact, we often can recognize sins in other people (“each tree is known by its own fruit,” v. 44). We are forbidden…
Read MoreIt’s Your Job!
June 19, 2018 DAILY READING Jeremiah 21:11-14This weekend’s readings: John 17:20-26 FIELD NOTES In today’s reading, Jeremiah delivers the king of Judah a divine message from God: “Execute justice, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed.” It’s as if Jeremiah is reminding the king that his duty is to others,…
Read MoreDecisions
June 18, 2018
Read MoreSing Praises to the Lord
June 16, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 92:1-4, 12-152 Kings 14:1-14Mark 4:1-20This weekend’s reading: Acts 15 FIELD NOTES I love the words of praise in the Psalm for today. Let these words be your song and your prayer today. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord,to sing praises to your name, Most High;to proclaim…
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