The Scriptural Deacon

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Spain. Yes, we left behind the five kids with awesome and loving grandparents. Then made the journey over the great pond, just 8 short hours in the air. It was a fantastic trip. We landed in Madrid, then went to a beautiful wedding in Toledo. I am one who likes to watch and pay attention to what is going on around me and often later reflect on the different things that I observe. I have narrowed down my observations on this trip to around five blog post that I would like to share with everyone. By doing this I can bring together food, love, relationships, travel, and God. While at the same time not rushing to tell you the stories that made the biggest impression upon myself. The first event I would like to relate to everyone is the taxi ride from the airport in Madrid, to our hotel that we would be staying in when we returned from the wedding. Now I do a lot of driving back home and am not one who scares easily by clo...

This has been a very busy and crazy week/weekend. We saw the passing of Hurricane Florence, which gave the kids three days home from school. That made for a long, long, weekend, but we did make it through. The backyard is a mess right now and will need a bit of attention when it finally dries out back there. Also around the events of the hurricane I began a new Bible Study at church on the Lord's Prayer. For this eight week study we are meeting on Wednesday night. Thankfully, it is off to a great start. So last night on the way home I stoped by the grocery store and what items did I find from my very short shopping list? Which included: milk, bananas, sting cheese, and orange juice. Just the cheese and juice. No milk. Hardly any fruit in the store. The place was empty. I was truly shocked by this. Most produce, meats, fresh food in general, where nonexistent. When I got hame and told Joanne what had happened, it made me think, our food supply is on a very short sting. Here ...

Not only are we celebrating the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, but here in North Carolina we are also in the middle of Hurricane Florence. Since I do not have enough time to prepare a new sermon or post for this feast day. I looked back and found this homily that I wrote several years ago. Its focus in upon the lordship of Jesus and how it effect our lives, as well as our world. I think it is well worth a read. Just to note: The family and I are doing well. We prayed Vespers last night (nothing like singing "Our Lord I have cried to you hear me", with a two year old screaming at the top of his lungs. Then again I am sure that we sometimes sound just like that to God) and Matins together for the feast. It was rough morning though, I think a bit of cabin fever is already setting in. It will be a long weekend I am sure. I pray that all of you are safe, knowing that God through his divine protection is watching over us. God's blessings to everyone. E...

As we continue our journey through the early parts of Genesis, we come to the passage where God lays out the fundamental problem with man after the Fall. It is from this text that we find out what must be fixed in man if he is going to truly enter back into communion with the living God. In these words, we not only discover the disease that confronts man, but also the cure that is needed to make him again. Genesis 6:5-8 “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6  And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7  So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” The very first thing we should notice is the evil ...