The first part of today’s blog is a devotional I wrote for my church’s Lenten series.  What follows is, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. Well, the rest of our stories.  John’s, mine . . . and maybe yours. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved…

Throughout Scripture we’re compared to sheep. Hardly ever to oxen. You may not mind being compared to a cute, cuddly sheep. But an ox? Um, no. Honestly, until I dived into “AI” I assumed oxen were cousins of cows. Wrong.  They’re not cousins. An ox is a cow. A castrated adult male cow. Now who…

I have a casual friend. Let’s call her Wendy. She’s such a casual friend that I don’t even know her last name. But Wendy and I just had a very un-casual conversation. About the Bible. “You know,” she says, “some people don’t believe much of it is true. I didn’t used to . . .”…