Once there was a man whose eye was always on the horizon. He cared very much about international and foreign affairs, and was constantly writing his congressman about national issues. He viewed the evening news every night, usually with alarm, and he did whatever he could to involve his friends in this sort of thing. …
Dress Ups
Once there was a little girl named Molly, and she had a very close friend named Susan. Every day after school they would get together at one of their houses, and they would play with their toys, but one of their favorite games was dress ups. One day when they were playing dress-ups, they went …
Learning the Whole Story
Once there were two children, a brother and a sister, who played with one another constantly. They were normally good friends and played together well, but we must also admit that they occasionally quarreled. And one afternoon, while playing in the back yard, they quarreled. One had bumped the other, then had been bumped back, …
Ratios
The saints of God are mountains, snowcapped and glorious. They stand under heaven, and tower to a crushing weight, the weight of glory. And yet, reaching toward heaven, what does such height accomplish? How far can it reach? Against such a standard, What is close? What is far? The valleys are lifted up, The rough …
Overstated
Once there was a very evil city, on the shores of a great ocean. This city was full of wickedness and every manner of filth. They lived in great debauchery, and ignored the prophets who were sent to warn them. Whenever the prophets became impossible to ignore, they would persecute and kill them. In this …
Bank Robbers and Street Preachers
A certain man had embarked on a career of bank robbing. He had done this for many years, and he was beginning to grow weary of it. One day, after a successful heist, he was walking down the street, with his briefcase full of cash. He was wondering what he was missing in life, when …
Lining Up the Soup Cans
Once there were two homes, and there were the same number of children in each household-I think it was around four or five. But beyond this, the similarities in the households disappeared. One of them was clean and tidy, and the other was just a few steps short of a disaster. Now what was the …
The Son of Jesse and His Marketing Agent
When David was preparing to meet the Philistine giant Goliath, we are fortunate that he did not have his marketing agent with him. And David said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And his agent said, “David, I really do not think that this language is …
Ah, Look at All the Lonely People
Once there was a very submissive wife, at least in her own mind. She wholeheartedly embraced whatever her husband asked of her, so long as she thought it was the right thing to do. She had very strong views on submission, and she pushed her husband regularly to make the right decisions, so that she …
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time there was a Christian people who had drifted from the right worship of God. They had, through laziness and unbelief, neglected to worship God the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, they ceased offering worship that was distinctively Trinitarian. As a result, this people …