Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that … Read More
The Colorful Beauty of Our Time-Traveling God
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to … Read More
Pursuing Knowledge: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
This post was originally published on October 6, 2017. I’m reposting it again in honor of my friends at Mantua Creek Church and the study we’ve begun on the book of Ecclesiastes. There’s nothing new on this earth. Year after year it’s the same old thing…. Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know the more you hurt. … Read More
Seize the Day!
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. (Eccl. 9:7, ESV) As mentioned previously, the verse above has become a favorite, along with its context (9:7-10a), and the whole book of Ecclesiastes. That’s not because I’m a good follower of “the Preacher’s” advice, but I aspire … Read More
Beyond the Table in the Mist
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain [fleeting] life that he has given you under the sun, … Read More
Stealing Ecclesiastes Back!
In the opening track, “Helter Skelter,” of U2’s 1988 Rattle & Hum, Bono shouts, “This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles and we’re stealing it back!” In the same way, Ecclesiastes is a book that the New International Version’s (NIV) translation of “vanity” as “meaningless” has stolen from many, and I want to steal it back! Rather … Read More