Mental Musings

There is a fable of an eagle that could outfly all other eagles. One eagle was so jealous of his ability, that he flew down and begged a hunter to shoot the eagle with his bow. The hunter agreed, but said that he needed a feather for his arrow. The eagle pulled a feather out of his wing and handed it to the hunter. The hunter made his shot, but it fell far short of the soaring eagle. The jealous eagle continued to pull out feather after feather for the hunter to use until he had pulled out so many fathers he could no longer fly. The hunter turned his final arrow on the flightless eagle and killed him. Jealousy is one of those sins that leads us to do horrible things for the sake of hurting others, but in the end, we usually only hurt ourselves. As we continue our series Going Viral, we see today in Acts 17 that the message of Jesus was continuing to spread and that this made the Jews jealous. They felt that their religious views were being attacked. Raucous Riots Then some

Harriet Tubman was a fugitive from the law. A runaway slave. She could have enjoyed her newfound freedom, yet she choose to help other slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. She managed to help free 300 slaves by making many return trips into slave states, risking her own freedom time and time again. A slave helping to free slaves was not a new or uncommon thing. Once someone has experienced the humiliation, the despair of being owned by another person, they often had compassion for others in the same situation. Many freed slaves did whatever they could to help family and friends achieve the same freedom that they had acquired. As we continue our series, Going Viral, we look today at the story of some slaves. Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit of prediction. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation,

We all have had conflicts. Whether it is with our parents, our spouse, our boyfriend/girlfriend, our siblings, our friends, our enemies, our boss, our co-workers, etc. How we handle those conflicts matter. Handle them wrong and we could suffer the fallout for years or even your entire lifetime. Sometimes conflicts are just a way to blow off a little steam and then get back to what is important. Conflicts may just be a diversion for other issues we are facing. Conflicts can also be good for our emotional and spiritual growth. They can help us grow closer to each other as we work through the problems and come to an understanding. Obviously not all conflicts are resolved in a peaceful manner. Sometimes we storm off mad and refuse to communicate. Sometimes we see people clashing in the streets as opposing views protest each other. Sometimes conflicts lead to war. Sadly, conflicts arise even in churches. My father remembered a time when he was a child in Traveler’s Rest, Sou

In most European cultures, the phrase “It’s all Greek to me” is used to express something that we cannot understand. It originally comes from the Latin phrase Graecum est, non legitur or Graecum est, non potest legi (It is Greek; it cannot be read). Medieval Latin scribes in monasteries would write that phrase if they had trouble translating Greek alphabet and language, which was dwindling in use by the Middle Ages. The phrase most likely entered modern English usage when Williams Shakespeare used it in 1599 in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. The Spanish equivalent was hablar en griego (or speaking Greek). The word “gringo,” which is Spanish slang to denote foreigners or non-native speakers of Spanish, comes from this phrase. Today, as we continue our series “Going Viral” we will see how Paul went from being seen as a Greek god to a simple gringo in a very short time. In Lystra a man without strength in his feet, lame from birth, and who had never walked, sat