"Evidence" for Evolution?

“It’s clear that Haeckel may have fudged his drawings somewhat to look more like his ideal than they actually are. Now, does that actually take away from what we know about the relationship of embryology to evolution? Not a bit. The whole Haeckel’s embryo story has been greatly blown out of significance. It is a minor footnote in the history of science, and actually it’s been known for ten or fifteen years that Haeckel’s embryos are not to be relied upon. The reason why the diagrams are reproduced is because they’re easily available. There’s no copyright on them. It’s an easy way to illustrate a point. And I would argue that the basic point that’s being illustrated by those drawings is still accurate.”  (Eugenie Scott, Ph.D., Director, National Center for Science Education.  From the DVD, “Icons of Evolution,” Jonathon Wells, The Discovery Institute, 2002.)

So that is what the evolutionists pass off as "science." What's next?  Maybe some "scientist" will say, "We are all aware that Piltdown Man was a hoax, but that does not diminish its importance as evidence of the evolution of man from an ape-like creature." Or maybe another one will say, "Everyone knows that Nebraska Man was nothing but a pig's tooth, but that does not diminish the importance of the find as evidence for evolution." Right... faked evidence is just fine as long as it supports the pre-conceived notions of evolutionists. Vary sad and very absurd.

Such illustrations could go on and on, but what would be the point? It is obvious to those who look at the facts that evolution is nothing but a house of cards that has been successful in fooling many people for quite some time. Nevertheless, it is not worthy of our consideration, and it should become nothing but a joke as it is seen more and more for the hoax it really is.

Consigned to Hell?

I recently received an anonymous document in which an individual consigned a man, who had passed away in recent months, to hell. The writer of the document seemed to be very jubilant about it, celebrating and loving the thought that this man would be condemned for all eternity. As I have contemplated this, I have a number of observations.

Anyone who chooses to consign another human being to hell is stepping over into an area where no man has any right to tread. Such is God’s business, and it is not only arrogant, but it is quite dangerous, to stick our noses into areas that concern God, and Him alone. None of us should dare to judge someone else’s salvation. Do we really know who has or has not come to Christ by faith? Of course not. We can see their fruit, but being a “fruit inspector” does not make us God, and it most certainly does not qualify us to discern who really is and is not one of His own.

We know there are those who will end up in the lake of fire. The Bible tells us that the devil, his angels (the demons), the beast, and the false prophet will be there. We also know that those whose names are not in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire. There are, however, no names attached to these people. We do not know who they are. There is one man we know has been in hell since the time of Christ – the rich man of Luke 16. Obviously there are others, but to take upon ourselves the position of being able to consign specific individuals to hell is extremely self-righteous and is to invite God’s judgment.

The individual who wrote the document determined that the man is in hell based on a specific sin he allegedly committed. Of course, the writer has no proof other than the belated word of someone who may well have had an agenda. An assumption is being made that cannot be verified, and a complete lack of understanding of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and of the grace of God is being demonstrated.

What do I mean by that? We must sometimes be reminded that all sin, no matter how “small” or “minor,” is evil in the sight of God. ANY sin is sufficient to condemn a human to an eternity in the lake of fire, because sin is an offense against a holy God whose standard is perfection. God does not put up with sin. He does not arbitrarily overlook some sins because those sins are not sufficiently “bad” to result in condemnation. We step over a line which we ought not to even approach when we overlook our own sin but consign others to eternal condemnation because of their sins.

On the other hand, true believers in Christ are capable of any sin in the book, and any sin committed by a believer is already taken care of by the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross. That is the grace of God. We don’t deserve His grace, because if we did, it would not be grace. Is God’s grace only for me and for those of whom I approve, or is it even for those of whom I do not approve? It does us well not to presume on the grace of God only for ourselves.

Just look at David, a “man after God’s own heart.” While shirking his duty as head of his army, he lusted after another man’s wife, committed adultery with her, tried to make it look as if her husband was the father of the resultant offspring, had the husband murdered, and tried to cover the whole thing up. That is all a pretty “bad” sin, yet David did not lose his salvation and suffer the pangs of hell because of it. Note that he did not ask to have his salvation restored, but instead prayed, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12, NASB). He did not lose his salvation. Instead, he lost the JOY of God’s salvation. None of what David did was minor. None of it was acceptable to God. David certainly suffered a number of consequences because of it. However, no one has authority to consign him to hell because of it.

Such a view of who goes to hell and who does not based on behavior is nothing other than a very faulty view of salvation that says we are saved by our works. Clearly, the Bible teaches that we are saved “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9) and that we could never be saved by being good, since the Law of God, itself a good thing, is unable to save us. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3, NASB).

Taking pleasure in the condemnation of the lost is most certainly not what should be done by a true believer in Christ. If the man really did go to hell, where we all actually deserve to go, should we rejoice in that? How arrogant would that be? Even God Himself does not do that. “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11).

I did not know the man who passed away and who was accused of horrible behavior by someone else. I do not know what he did or did not do. Even if I had known him, and even if I had some way to know if he did this thing, I would certainly not be so arrogant or presumptuous as to consign him to hell. Whenever any of us goes about to condemn someone else, we need to remember that we would all, except for the grace of God, be under His condemnation. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36, NASB).

It would do us all well to heed the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5, NASB).

Joseph: A Man of Great Faith

My favorite Bible character from the Old Testament is Joseph, the son of Jacob and his beloved Rachel. He proved himself to be a man of great faith, even though he was hated and sold into slavery by his brothers, even though he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit, and even though he was thrown into prison and then forgotten by the cupbearer of Pharaoh after he had done the man a great service. Joseph never did give up and blame God for his predicament. Instead, he remained faithful, and God blessed him greatly.

However, this article is not about that Joseph, as important as he is to the Bible narrative. Instead, I want to consider another Joseph, one who is much less well-known, but who nevertheless also showed himself to be a man of great faith. At this time of year, we think of Mary and Joseph, the newborn Jesus, and all that goes with the Nativity scene. Much attention is paid to Mary, the Christ-child, the shepherds, and even the wise men who showed up many months later. The one individual who tends to be somewhat and sometimes totally ignored is Joseph, who, although not the biological father of Jesus, assumed all the legal responsibilities of fatherhood.

Joseph revealed himself as a man of great faith from the time he first heard his wife-to-be, Mary, was pregnant. This was no minor situation. The period of engagement was certainly different in that time and culture than it is today. Engagement (“betrothal” or “espousal”) was a binding commitment that could only be broken by a bill of divorcement, and unfaithfulness during that time was no less of an issue than unfaithfulness during marriage. The penalty for the guilty party could be death by stoning. Clearly Joseph at first believed Mary had been unfaithful, because he knew he had not had a physical relationship with her, and he knew she was pregnant. Without a doubt, his heart was broken, but he still loved her and opted for a private bill of divorcement rather than exposing her to public disgrace and having her stoned. His faith is shown by his response to the message the angel brought to him.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25, NASB).

The angel told Joseph that the child to which Mary would give birth would be the very Son of God. Many men might have doubted this and would have gone through with the divorce. Joseph, however, quite obviously believed what the angel said, because he acted on the message. Obedience is the best evidence of faith. It is quite easy to say, “I believe,” but it is another thing entirely to act on a message that seems difficult or even impossible. Joseph was asked to believe and act on the reality of a virgin birth. This is clearly impossible with man, but not with God.

A virgin birth is not like a “married bachelor” or a “square circle.” These things are logical absurdities. A virgin birth is not a logical absurdity; it is merely an impossibility. God is powerful to accomplish the impossible, and Joseph both believed and acted on this fact. He “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” There is no indication that Joseph wavered or doubted. He believed the message from God and acted on it. He knew Mary was still a virgin, and he kept her so until after the birth of Jesus. His actions were likely illogical to others around him, but he acted in obedience to the Lord, so the opinions of his friends and acquaintances were irrelevant.

Some time after His birth, King Herod heard from the wise men that one had been born who would be the new king. Of course, Herod being the paranoid scoundrel he was, immediately came up with a plan to kill this threat to his throne. Many young children were slaughtered in the carrying out of Herod’s evil plan, but of course Jesus escaped. Joseph was warned to take Mary and the child Jesus to Egypt. Once again, Joseph acted in faith and immediately obeyed.

Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON” (Matthew 2:13-15, NASB).

Many men might have replied with skepticism and questioned the wisdom of the angel’s message. It was surely a scary prospect to move to a different country with no notice ahead of time and no time to plan, yet Joseph, in another display of great faith, immediately “got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.” He did not delay, nor did he express doubt. He simply obeyed the Lord’s command and did something that would have seemed illogical to many, but Joseph obviously knew that the only place of safety was in the center of God’s will.

After a period of time, an angel again came to Joseph and told him to return to Israel.

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2, 19-23, NASB).

By this time, the little family was certainly settled in Egypt, and again, it would have been easy for Joseph to second-guess the angel’s message. He could have considered Egypt to be the best place to safely raise Jesus, since it was away from the place where His life had been in jeopardy. However, just like in the other situations, Joseph acted in faith, believing the message and acting on it. He “got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the Land of Israel.” After coming back to Israel, Joseph was warned by God in a dream and again responded in faith and “left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.”

Every step of the way, Joseph responded in faith by acting on what God told him. We know very little more about this man other than what we can assume from his godly character. We assume he died some time between the visit to the temple when Jesus was twelve years old and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. We can also assume that he was faithful to the responsibility of being the earthly, adoptive father of the Son of God, teaching Him many things, including the carpenter trade.

The Scripture tells us that Joseph was “a righteous man,” and there is no reason to believe he did not operate in the rest of his life in the same manner in which we observe him operating in the parts of his life we know about. He is frequently overlooked among biblical heroes, but what we do know of him makes Joseph a great hero of the faith.

Daniel’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

We so often think of this time of year as a time to thank God for all His blessings – material things – our homes, our cars, our wealth relative to the rest of the world, our country, our freedom, food, etc. For these things we most certainly should be thankful, but Daniel’s prayer of thanksgiving teaches us the importance of being thankful for much more. It reveals a great deal about the nature and character of God – the things on which are based all His blessings to us. We need to be especially thankful all the time, not just at a special time of year.

Daniel’s prayer is found in the second chapter of his prophecy. King Nebuchadnezzar had his dream of the great image, and it troubled him, because he did not know what it meant. He called in all of his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans – in other words, his alleged “wise men.” Of course, these men were not truly wise at all. They had no connection with the God of heaven. It quickly became clear that Nebuchadnezzar did not really trust the wise men, because he demanded not only the interpretation but the content of the dream itself. When the wise men asked him to tell them the dream so they could interpret it, he accused them of stalling and threatened to destroy them if they could not tell him the dream, but he promised great rewards for anyone who could do so.

Their response rang quite true. Even these heathen “wise men” had enough sense to know that only God (or “the gods” as they put it) could do what the king was asking. The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh (Daniel 2:10-11, NKJV).

Nevertheless, the king gave orders to have all of the wise men of Babylon destroyed, and this order included Daniel and his friends. When Daniel found out about the king’s command, he went to his house, along with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. There they prayed and asked for the answer so that they might not be destroyed with the rest of the “wise men” of Babylon.

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king's demand" (Daniel 2:19-23, NKJV).

This prayer recognizes the superiority of the God of the universe, the God of the Bible, over all false gods that men have created. This we should be thankful for on a daily basis, because if we did not have such a God, He most certainly could not provide for us all of the other things we think about when we list the things for which we are thankful.

Notice the specific content of the prayer.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever…   God is eternal. He is outside of time. He is not limited as we are. We need to see things in eternal perspective and not just temporal perspective. He is eternally worthy of our praise and worship.

…wisdom and might are His.  God is all-knowing and all-powerful. All of our questions find their answers in Him, and He is the one who can do something about our situations. There is no situation too big for Him to handle.

He changes the times and the seasons…   God controls His creation. This contrasts God with Babylonian fatalism based on astrology. They looked to the stars, but God made the stars. God has power and control over all those things men look to. In spite of the evidence, man has chosen to worship the created thing instead of the Creator.

Romans 1 tells us that …the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever (Romans 1:18-20, 25, NKJV).

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1, NKJV),

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:3-4, NKJV).

He removes kings and raises up kings…   God is sovereign. This statement contrasts a sovereign God with the weakness of Babylon deities. We sometimes wonder why God allows certain men – dictators, tyrants – to be in power. We can be confident that He has His reasons. And ultimately, all will bow to Him.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11, NKJV).

He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things…   God is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. The wise men of Babylon were not really wise men. They were not recipients of divine wisdom. Man is completely dependent on God for wisdom. Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22, NKJV). There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV).

He knows what is in the darkness…   There is no hiding place from God. He knows all about us.

…light dwells with Him.   He is the source of light, in contrast to the darkness. Only He can save human beings.

I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king's demand.  We ought to first and foremost thank God for all He is, and then it will be very natural to thank Him for all He provides.

Coming to grips with the very nature and character of God helps put all things into perspective. No matter what comes into our lives, we who know the Lord can accept it as from the hand of our Heavenly Father who knows all things, who is in control of all things, and who loves us with an everlasting love.

Two Fire Chiefs

There once was a fire chief whose time as chief was coming to an end. In all the excitement surrounding his impending retirement, he became careless about a number of things, including what he did with the used motor oil from the fire engines and other official vehicles. Instead of recycling it, he had it poured out on the ground near the fire station. He knew of the danger, and several of his employees warned him that something bad could happen, but his attention was focused elsewhere, and he ignored their advice.

The incoming chief was a younger man with very little experience. In fact, he had never even been a firefighter, but he had done a great deal of organizing for the firefighters’ union. He was to take charge at the end of the chief’s retirement ceremony. He had ascended to the position by promising “change” and also promising never to return to the “failed policies of the past,” such as putting out fires with water and other proven methods of fire suppression.

The day of the chief’s retirement finally arrived. The firefighters had planned a retirement celebration which had gotten underway. During the celebration, the oil near the station caught fire. (It was suspected that some of the new chief’s friends actually set the fire in an attempt to help him off to a good start by giving him a chance to look good right away.)

Soon the fire station itself was on fire. The retiring chief took charge and began the process of getting the fire put out with the help of all the firefighters present. Good progress was being made, but before the fire was completely extinguished, the time came for the transition of leadership to take place.

The new fire chief immediately announced that he was in charge, and although he had no idea what to do about the fire, he asked his predecessor to leave. Before addressing the issue, he gave an acceptance speech in which he proclaimed that from now on, all problems involving fires would automatically and almost miraculously cease due to his presence with the department.

Even though he had no answers, the first thing he did after his speech was stop all firefighting activity and call a press conference to make it clear to everyone that he had inherited the fire from his predecessor. He then formed a committee of college professors and lawyers to study the situation, and he appointed a “Fire Czar” to oversee the committee. He then went to the city council to request funds to finance the new committee and the new czar’s salary, complete with all the benefits and freebies appropriate for someone in such an exalted position.

After meeting with his new czar and committee, he returned to the scene of the fire and called another press conference to announce that a plan was in place to put out the fire, pending approval of the environmental impact study and completion of numerous other reports and studies. Since this was going to take some time, he sent all the firefighters on vacation. He then decided that he might as well play some golf.

When the studies and reports were complete and approved, he finished his 74th round of golf since the fire started, left the golf course, and sent some firefighters to fight the fire, which now was in the process of burning all the buildings within a mile in all directions, by pouring 5,000 gallons of gasoline on it. When the fire got bigger, he ordered them to pour 10,000 gallons of gasoline on it. Not only did the fire not go out as he had decreed, it now was totally out of control, engulfing many city blocks and creeping into the nearby forest.

He finally came up with a solution. He ordered his firefighters to pour 500,000 gallons of gasoline on the fire. This, of course, made the fire much larger, which surprised him greatly, since his ideology told him the fire should have immediately gone ont. It also used up most of the reserves of gasoline, which would be hard to replace, since oil drilling, pipelines, and refineries were all on his “hit list.” When people accused him of making the fire worse through his solution, he reminded them that he had inherited the problem, and if he had not poured the gasoline on the fire, it would have become much worse. People should be thankful that his efforts had saved the city from a much larger disaster.

Three years went by, and he continued to have gasoline poured on the fire. Of course, the fire continued to burn and get larger. He used up many city resources that had been designated for other things, including police personnel and equipment and additional firefighting equipment as he bought more and more gasoline. He continued to blame his predecessor – “I inherited this problem, and if I had not acted decisively, it would be much worse.”

He continued to believe that the only way to put out the fire would be to re-double his efforts with the gasoline, but some of his own men balked at that idea, suggesting that they needed to use the fire control efforts they knew would work. He again responded that it would be irresponsible to go back to the “failed ideas of the past,” completely ignoring the facts that those procedures had a proven track record of putting out fires and also that his procedure had done nothing but make the problem worse.

He continued to blame his predecessor – “I inherited this problem. It’s his fault.” He went on by claiming it was his opponents – probably those pesky police officers – not his own men, who were preventing him from doing what was necessary.

The fire never did get put out. Instead, it just ran out of fuel and went out on its own. However, at least he was able to continue to blame his predecessor, and he was able to get more borrowed money allocated to further cover the cost of his new committee. Of course, he did not use the revenue for that purpose. Instead, he gave it to his friends who ran the unions.

In spite of all of his efforts to make things better, it soon became obvious that total tax revenue was going down, because the fire had destroyed so many businesses and homes, forcing people out of the area, which in turn made the tax base smaller. This caused him to petition city hall to further raise taxes to make up the shortfall. He demanded that those who were already paying all the taxes be compelled to pay their “fair share.” That way, he figured he could raise enough revenue for more gasoline to put out the fire, but he could also give rebates to all those who paid no taxes at all. That would be “win-win” for him. Just in case the revenue did not come in from the greedy rich people, he made alternate plans to borrow whatever amount was needed from China. Hopefully, that would provide enough that he could actually exempt all those who liked him from paying any taxes at all and shift the entire tax burden to his political enemies.

Even though he knew, in spite of all of the evidence, that gasoline was extremely effective in putting out fires, he also requested an additional amount of revenue to study alternative fire suppression sources, since as ethanol, wind, solar, etc. He figured that would get him in good with the environmental lobby and other anti-oil groups.

He also requested twenty-five 50,000 gallon gasoline tanks to be used to fight future fires, if and when the city and the fire station ever got rebuilt. His wisdom told him that the best way to solve a problem is to do more of what caused the problem. Of course, the city and the forest were all but completely destroyed, but forests could grow again, and “the rich” and businesses, at least those who did not move away, could always be soaked for even more taxes in order to pay for more of his brilliant solutions to problems that weren’t his fault.

Thankfully, his term as chief finally came to an end, and there was nothing better at the end than it had been at the beginning. Actually, everything was much worse. But come on… at least he was sincere.

A Tribute to My Dad: World War 2 Veteran

Wayne W. Livesay

June 16, 1922 – October 31, 2009

On this Veteran's Day, I honor my dad for his service to our country and for his service to our Lord.

My dad was not famous, but he did more for his country than most of us could ever imagine. He fought and bled for the freedom we all enjoy, even for the freedoms of those who today spit on the flag and make a mockery of the liberty we have in this country. His thirty-three missions in B-17 bombers were many beyond the average life-expectancy of bomber crews in World War 2. His nine months as a prisoner of war in Germany took a toll on his body that caused him to suffer until the end of his life.

In addition to his service to his country, he had a long life of service to the Lord, serving as a pastor and church planter, teaching adult Sunday school for many years, and presenting the gospel of Christ to unbelievers. His life’s verse was Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Go Lady Warriors!

Here it is … the first day of basketball practice … and I am not there. I finally came to a decision a couple of weeks ago … a decision I really knew I needed to make. I stepped down as varsity girls’ basketball coach and left the team in the very able hands of my long-time assistant.

As I saw the season approaching, I found myself doing something I had never done before … I was dreading it. I was dreading spending two hours a day in practice. I was dreading the games two nights a week, especially the away games and late return times on school nights. I was also dreading what it might do to my effectiveness in the classroom.

I always told my teams that basketball is a game, and games are played for fun. I also told them that if they could not have fun and enjoy it, they should not play. I know that applies to coaches, as well. Even though basketball, as well as other sports, can be a great vehicle for teaching biblical principles, what I do in the classroom as a Bible and math teacher is of far greater significance than anything I might do in the gym.

I knew a long time ago that when the time came to step away from coaching, I would just do it with no regrets. I thoroughly enjoyed my 22 seasons of coaching at the varsity level and several other seasons at the JV and junior high levels.

Coaching is very tiring and time-consuming, and we all reach the age where we have to slow down and realize we can no longer do everything we used to do. I step away with many fond memories of past seasons. The Lord was very good to me and to my teams over the years, and I thank Him for the experience.

Now I say to the team, “Go Lady Warriors! Play with all your might as unto the Lord! Have a great season!”