Procida, Italy

From Naples you can take a ferry to all kinds of interesting places: Ischia, Capri, Palermo, or maybe a bit further, like Tunis.  One of the islands offers a sort of idyllic hint of the kind of Italy you see in the travel brochures.  It’s Procida (Pro-chida).  Of course, during July and August it’s mobbed…

Enoch’s Mortality

And I put sleep into him and he fell asleep.  And I took from him A rib, and created him a wife, that death should come to him by his wife, and I took his last word and called her name mother, that is to say, Eva (Eve).  1 Enoch 30:16 Death should come to…

Fast Times

Here are a couple of just for fun very quick videos of my trip to Napoli. You might have to click twice to get them to play. First the optical illusion of the railroad tracks. CLICK Second, a poppy field at 185 miles per hour. CLICK I wish I could have gotten off for a…

Leaving It Alone

saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”  Luke 22:42  NASB But – Sitting in the restaurant bar waiting for a table.  Enjoying the conversation with another couple.  Suddenly the man gets up, goes to the wall and adjusts a picture that isn’t perfectly…

The Photo Police

On my trip to Naples, I made sure I visited the Museo Cappella San Severo, probably the most beautiful single room exhibition of amazing sculpture and a fabulously painted ceiling.  So, I paid my money and got in line, only to be told on afterward, “No photos.”  This happens rarely in Italy, especially when the…

Private Window

When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.  Genesis 49:33  NASB Gathered to his people – I stand in the window of the second floor apartment in Glenview, looking at the snow.  Suddenly I begin to cry.  To shake.  My whole life…

Apopis

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  Genesis 3:1 NIV Serpent – Some years ago I shared a lecture session with Michael Heiser, author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering…

On Pain of Death

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.   Exodus 24:9-10  NASB Saw – There’s just one little problem.  “‘But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face,…

Practical Application

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;  2 Timothy 3:16  NASB Teaching/ rebuke/ correction/ training – Paul tells us the purpose of “inspired Scripture.”  He’s quite deliberate about it, but did you notice what is strikingly absent?  Let’s see. Scripture is useful for “teaching.”  Didaskalía, that…