Lenten Devotions

Easter Sunday “But I Will See You Again, and Your Heart Will Rejoice – One Heart of Enduring Joy!” We should have seen it coming. On the third day of creation, God created beautiful living things that come up out of the ground. They buried Jesus in a garden. In the Exodus, it was the […]

God Rested, My Heart is Glad The timing of the heart is both fluid and wonderfully precisely orchestrated to adjust dynamically to demands of all sorts. But unless the Lord returns first, there will be a time when it is still. “Asystole” is the term – no contraction, no pressure. For Christ, His heart stopped

Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also Before the trials and the beatings began early Friday morning, Jesus had already lost blood. “Precious blood” was the ransom price for a rebellious and rogue people; but Jesus treasured them. Nevertheless, even considering the cost… it took its toll in His blood. “During His

Innocent Blood Betrayed or Consumed Debate continues about whether Judas received the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday. That is most likely precisely the way the Holy Spirit intended it to be. Some Gospels like St. Luke’s imply that he did receive it. John seems to indicate that he did not. Either way, Judas’ comment early

“SPY” Wednesday, April 13 – What You and Others Put in Your Heart – Comes Out This day of Holy Week is sometimes called “Spy Wednesday.” The day begins with Jesus being anointed with pure nard, and Judas complaining that the money could have been spent on the poor. We question his motives. For much

The Life Is in the Blood Which “Serves” the Body – The Heart Transports Life Many people I would suspect know of the prohibition in Scripture, and sustained by practicing Jews today, to never eat food with blood in it. The primary text for this is in Leviticus 17 where God tells Moses, “And any

Loving Hearts – Cold Hearts – And Lawlessness Stylized Hearts – you know, the kind that are used on Valentine’s Day cards and stickers, are almost universally used as a symbol of “love.” Certainly when it comes to love – agape, humble, forgiving love – the heart is involved! Peter would write in his first

A Veil Over the Heart – Sometimes Opened One of the more interesting surgical questions I had about heart surgery is “How does a surgeon approach opening the pericardium and closing it after surgery?” The word pericardium literally means “around the heart.” And it is a tough sack-like structure that wraps around about 80% of

After the Lord’s Heart – Where Is It Found?  How Was It Kept? One does not have to watch too many heart surgery videos – even the animated type – to want to avoid heart surgery. Having been a pastor for some time, I have been astonished with the skills of all sorts of surgeons.

Some Forms of Cardiac Care Surgery Are Growing – Some Are Contracting – Consider Risk iData research reports that by 2019 over 900,000 heart surgeries were performed every year  (June 1, 2020). In 2005, it was about 700,000. Yet, simultaneously, since the turn-of-the-century, more hospitals are offering coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgeries, but fewer