Ken Winter
On To Our Paran

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After having camped at Mount Sinai for almost a year, the cloud lifted and the Israelites set out on their three-day journey to the wilderness of Paran.(1) (You may recall that the wilderness of Paran is where Hagar and Ishmael found refuge when Sarah had Abraham send them away.(2)) The wilderness of Paran was bounded to the north by southern Canaan, otherwise known as the Promised Land. They were in the fourteenth month of their exodus from Egypt and they were now closing in on the prize that was before them – the Promised Land!

On To Our Paran
Ken Winter
Bread That Is Sufficient

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The day God provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of his son Isaac, Abraham called that place Jehovah Jireh, meaning “The Lord will provide.”(1) That day was to be a reminder to all generations that the Lord will provide. He will be faithful to provide just what is needed at the exact time it is needed. He is seldom early; but He is never late! He seldom provides in the manner we anticipate; but He always provides in a way that is sufficient. That was true for Abraham and Isaac, it was true for Moses and the Israelites, and it is true for us today.

God promised Moses and the Israelites that each morning He would provide bread that would be sufficient for every person for the day – everyone would have their fill.(2) After the people had gotten over the shock that this “white, flaky stuff” was God’s bread for them, they set about the process of gathering what was needed for their household. God’s provision, though “packaged” in a very unexpected way, came with very specific instructions.

Bread That Is Sufficient
Ken Winter
Chosen to Serve

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There is no such thing as a perfect church. That statement does not come as a shock to any of us, whether we are a part of a church … or not. However, i do believe that those of us inside the church often tend to want everyone to believe we have it all together. We have a tendency to hide the “real me” behind a mask and cover up the things, the hurts, the doubts, and the imperfections that we don’t want anyone else to see. (It’s similar to the way most of us – believers and non-believers alike – tend to portray ourselves on social media.)

i also believe that those outside the church often project that false impression – that we think we’re perfect – upon the church, and enjoy highlighting the downfall of those within the church when they fall.

No, the church isn’t perfect, but then again, it never has been! But we endeavor to worship, follow, and follow the example of the only One who is and ever was perfect.

Chosen to Serve
Ken Winter
Perilous Times

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We live in a day filled with upheaval, confusion, and uncertainty. It therefore comes as no surprise that the rates of depression, anxiety, and fearfulness about the future continue to reach new highs  among adults in the U. S. according to a Gallup poll published in May 2023.(1) But as followers of Christ, we can take heart that the perilous times in which we find ourselves are also indicative of the days to come that Jesus described two thousand years ago. We can embrace the hope we have through the promises and assurance He gave to His disciples—and through them, to us.

Jesus was sitting on the slopes of the Mount of Olives with His disciples telling them about the perilous times that would signal the end of the age and His return.(2) The disciples, in turn, asked Him three questions:

1.    When will all this happen?

2.    What sign will signal Your return?

3.    What sign will signal the end of the world?

Perilous Times
Ken Winter
His Face Was Set

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The New King James translation of Luke 9:51 says “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Jesus to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” The timeframe of this particular journey recorded in Luke 9 was well over a year before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. He still had much yet to do, messages yet to preach, and miracles yet to perform. But in this verse, Luke is reminding us that Jesus never lost sight of why the Father had sent Him. No matter what was on His “to do list,” His face was always set, His eye was always focused, and His stride never wavered from His ultimate purpose.

Sometimes, as we remember the events of Holy Week, we can fall into a trap of thinking that Jesus’s crucifixion was the result of Judas’s betrayal, the Sanhedrin’s envy and hatred, Pilate’s spinelessness, and the soldiers’ cruelty. We can be lulled into thinking His death was involuntary. And salvation was the result of God taking something that the enemy meant for evil and using it for His glory and our good.

His Face Was Set

God's Promise

Not Until They Came

Not Until They Came

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Have you ever done something because you knew you were supposed to do it, even though you didn’t really know why you were doing it? Or maybe you thought you were doing it for one reason, only to later discover that God obviously had a completely different reason in mind. If that’s the case, you’re in very good company!

Throughout His earthly ministry, there were a number of women who traveled with Jesus and His disciples. Some were members of His extended family or the families of His disciples, such as Salome (the mother of James and John, and the wife of Zebedee) and Mary (the mother of James the Less, and the wife of Clopas). Some of the women had been healed by Jesus, or were those from whom He had cast out evil spirits, including Mary Magdalene and Joanna (the wife of Chuza, the household manager of Herod Antipas). These, and many others, “were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and His disciples.” Mark lists Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James) and Salome as coming to the tomb the Sunday morning after Jesus was crucified.

A Royal Connection

A Royal Connection

Recently, my cousin Calvin forwarded a document that he had come across that traced our family tree back to English royalty. It indicated that King Edward III of England was our 22nd great grandfather (GG), and that other notables in English and European history, including King Edward II (23rd GG), Charlemagne (41st GG), and Edmund Mortimer (20th GG) were also positioned as branches along this illustrious family tree. Someone had gone through painstaking effort to assemble this ancestry listing all the way back to the middle of the first century A.D. To say the least, the document was very impressive!

i was considering writing the current royal family to see if arrangements could be made for us to come for a visit to Windsor Castle since it was the birthplace of my 22nd GG. i was certain that the royal blood coursing through my veins would insure an immediate affirmative response. Who knows – this knowledge may have also surfaced the birthright of a forgotten knighthood? The list of possibilities soon became endless!

Until the next morning, when i received an email from another one of my cousins….

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