Mark out a straight path for your feet.
Then those who follow you,
though they are weak and lame,
will not stumble and fall but will become strong
Chapter 1
The Real Nature of Things
— something beyond meaninglessness
Mum did not live to see the dawn of this new millennium, but her example remains,
inspiring those of us who knew her. Mum bequeathed to us a tantalizing sense of something
beyond this present society’s worldview–
this orthodoxy of meaninglessness and its consuming pursuit of materialism.
So we begin our walk through a new era with an inherited sense of anticipation and a transcendent hope.
We, Isaac and Rebecca, would like to share this lively optimism, this sustaining encouragement....
Walk A Straight Path Chapter 1
Chapter 2
The Day of the Gypsy
— ideas have consequences
One day after classes, my friends and I were at our favorite cafe drinking the local white wine
flavored with a liqueur of black currents and carrying on as college students do, when a Gypsycame over to our table, sat down beside me and poured himself a glass from our carafe. He looked me in the
eye and asked in French, “Are you happy?”
Immediately I was lost in my inner self, considering a thousand thoughts and weighing my emotional bag of feelings. I don’t know how long I zoned out, away from the table, the café, the world, as my thoughts
raced around my interior universe. But the next thing I knew, the Gypsy put his hand on my arm, saying, “You are too complicated.” He finished his drink, got up and left.
It was true….
Walk A Straight Path Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Pursuing Happiness?
— discover Hope!
Have you formed an opinion about what it takes to be happy?
According to the poet Ogden Nash the root of happiness springs from an absence of nagging guilty feelings. Nash observed that there were only a limited number of ways that we can comfortably recline
on our favorite mental easy chair: “There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball. And that is to have either a clear conscience; or none at all.”
From that perspective one could opt to follow an Adolf Hitler or a Mother Teresa and still achieve an acceptable amount of happiness.
Is that right?…
Walk A Straight Path Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Falling Prey to Demons?
— violence begins in the mind
Would you consider a dramatic presentation of the Anne Frank story to be funny?
One Friday afternoon my oldest son came home after a hard day at the local
public school visibly upset.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
He hemmed and hawed for a moment and then quietly said, “We
were watching a video about Anne Frank [the young Jewish-Dutch girl
who tried to hide from the Nazis during the Second World War]. And during a scene
that showed the Nazis machine-gunning a group of prisoners lined up against a wall,
a bunch of the kids in class started laughing!”
I was shocked, but decided to probe for the facts before jumping to
conclusions….
Walk A Straight Path Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Kick that Black Dog!
— overcoming depression
Muzzling the black dog’s bite?
Yes it can be done. We want to encourage those who may feel trapped, worthless, or alone and without relief in sight.
You, too, can climb out of your pit of misery with the proper mental tools and a lifeline – if you’ll only reach out and grab them.
A few decades ago I, Rebecca, fell into the black hole of depression and stayed there for a number of years. Eventually I found my way out and emerged to see the light once more.
But then, recently, that black dog returned again to hound me back into the pit, though I thought I had seen the last of him….
Walk A Straight Path Chapter 5
Chapter 6
A Good Marriage
— your loving oasis
The cynics about marriage have long abounded. One of these wags once quipped:
“The best part of married life is the fights. The rest is merely so-so.”
In the past one could laugh at such a comment and then quickly dismiss it as coming from
a well-established but insignificant minority of conjugal misfits.
Such cantankerous misanthropes had no business getting married in the first place.
But, as we begin a new millennium, Rebecca and I have the sneaking suspicion that the marital cynics have prospered all too well during the latter half of the twentieth century.
Walk A Straight Path chapter 6
Chapter 7
Tame That Cheatin’ Heart!
— infidelity or intimacy
It took me more than a few minutes of poking around my Dad’s messy garage before I, Isaac,
found what I was looking for. The objects of my search were three, small, unwelcome suitcases.
They were scruffed up, cheap bags no doubt bought for a couple of bucks at some secondhand store. Upon their arrival at Dad’s place in Twin Falls, they were given a quick cursory examination and then
were banished to the garage’s ever-growing junk collection to await their eventual disposition, or more likely, their complete oblivion…
The scriptures, the source of the biblical worldview, claim to be “God-breathed.” They offer God’s revelation of the reality of the world and our role in His plan. In teaching believers “how to live right” the scriptures challenge us to fulfill two overarching commands. “Live by every word of God” and “Bring every thought into captivity.” This must be done in order to do our part in fulfilling Christ’s will and accomplishing His purpose. But, this cannot be done, except that we have faith as a sure foundation — and this faith is strengthened as we read the stories of our ancestors in the faith.
Moses in writing to the Israelites before entering their promised land, gave them an admonition, “Remember Amalek.” This brings to mind the question of who was Amalek? Why were they to be remembered? And how does this relate to the story of Esther? To understand Amalek we must go to the book of beginnings, for Amalek was a descendant of Esau. It was the relationship between Jacob and Esau revealed in Genesis that gives us the clues to understand God’s command.
