This week we pause our look at the Beatitudes to check out the results of two recent surveys. One comes from Lifeway Research and the other from Pew Research. The Lifeway survey was taken in September 2020, roughly six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and the questions were given to 1200 Americans balancing gender, age,…
Read MoreCategory: Ramblings
This category is general and includes my ramblings about various subjects. These will include thoughts that just pop into my head and writing that doesn’t fall neatly into any other category.
A Year in Ohio
On March 18, 2020, Kim and I arrived in the great state of Ohio to begin a new adventure. I guess you could say that the Sims family and COVID-19 came to Ohio about the same time. Or maybe the folks here think we brought it with us. Either way, we were following a wonderful…
Read MoreState of Theology in America 2020
And now for something completely different, at least different from most of what I post here. LifeWay Research recently issued the results of its State of Theology study, which explores the religious beliefs of adults throughout the United States. The survey, which was also taken in 2014, 2016, and 2018, collected answers from 3000 people…
Read MoreMaybe You’ve Noticed…
Thank you so much for reading this blog. It means the world to me that anyone actually takes the time to read my ramblings. Many of you read this blog by subscribing and receiving an email each week. If that’s you, then you may have noticed a change in the emails. Instead of containing the…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving!
Kim and I would like to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! In a year full of anxiety, tension, and division, we thank God today for all of our blessings, and they are many. We acknowledge both the greatness and the goodness of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose sovereignty we have complete…
Read MoreThe L Word
To say that we’ve been going through a difficult time the last three months is an understatement. Back on January 22, 2020, I texted my daughter to ask her if she had heard of a virus that was spreading in China. I had just read a news report about what was happening in the Wuhan…
Read MoreThe Pride of Anxiety
When I was nine years old, my parents got us a dog. Lady was a mixed breed and the most loving dog I’d ever been around. We were inseparable. I also had constant anxiety, though, about her dying. It was something that nagged at me my entire childhood. One Sunday afternoon I hopped in the…
Read MoreThe “Why’s” Have It
If you’re a parent, you know what I’m talking about when I mention kids going through the “Why?” phase. Their curiosity is so great that they ask questions, lots of questions, especially the “why” question. It goes something like this: “Daddy, why do I have to brush my teeth?”“Because Daddy said to.”“But why?”“So that your…
Read MoreRemember to Worship
When Christians face storms in life, how are we supposed to respond? What are we supposed to do? In the previous three posts, we’ve said that we should pray and we should trust. There’s something else we can do as well, and it may not be the first thing that comes to mind. When we’re…
Read MoreWhat’s That About Spiritual Gifts?
Here we are near the middle of December, and many of us are spending a lot of time thinking about one subject: gifts! Yes, I know this is a Christian blog and the one subject we should be focused on is the birth of Jesus, but let’s face it, at this point in the Christmas…
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