Am I Disappointed? - Mark 2:1-12 Post 5

I wonder if the paralyzed man was disappointed at Your first words.  I think I would have been.  You say, "Your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5).  But I wanted to move, to do things, to be what I was meant to be.  I don't want to be paralyzed anymore.

I guess I don't really know for sure that the

Waiting on the Shuttle in Moscow

We had just flown through the night from Atlanta to Moscow.  Our flight to Novosibirsk wouldn't leave until evening.  Tired and rumpled, we stood on the curb outside the airport waiting for the shuttle to take us to our hotel.  I glanced at the sign explaining how long the shuttle ran and at what intervals, then looked back up at it in surprise.  The schedule was spelled out clearly in a paragraph at

Pharisee's Mistake - Mark 2:1-12 Post 4

"Why does he talk like that? ...Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  (Mark 2:6-7).

They're right.  Only God can forgive sins.  I can say the words; I can even hope they're true.  But only God has the power and authority (Mark 2:10) to make them true.  My neighbor may forgive me, and it's good if he does.  It does mean something.  It

Paralyzed - Mark 2:1-12 Post 3

Limbs that will not work
Muscles atrophied from long disuse
a brain that cannot get a message through
to a body that will never hear, never know
no matter how hard it tries
Frozen
Wasted
Paralyzed. (Mark 2:1-12)

Obstacle - Mark 2:1-12 Post 2

I can blame it on the leper, and his disobedience to you which likely led to this impossible crowd. 

Or I can blame it on the crowd, eager and unyielding, and on their apparent lack of compassion and unwillingness to make a way through (Mark 2:1-5).

I can blame it on the walls - solid and equally