Are we willing to name Christ in public?

Is it possible to speak about Billy Graham without speaking the name of Jesus, who was always on the evangelist’s lips? On C-Span I heard only two leaders bring the name of Jesus Christ into the memorial for Mr. Graham in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda: President Donald Trump and Senate Chaplain Barry Black. Other leaders spoke movingly about Mr. Graham and his character as a servant of God without naming the Savior on whom he focused his life. Thank you Mr. President and thank you Chaplain Black for publicly speaking the name of Jesus Christ when honoring one of His most faithful servants.

God is FOR us and our school children

We are appalled by the multiplying attacks on schoolchildren in America. Yet attempts to conceive defenses generate political battles as soon as they are uttered, diverting us from using the tools at hand to increase safety.

My prayer is for the administrators and teachers of our schools to be blessed with eyes to see and hands to employ the defenses available to them already, today, to add to the safety of our students. And this prayer includes the students themselves, not just that they be safe but that they actively enter into the process of emplacing measures and adopting disciplines that minimize their vulnerability to harm.

On top of that, I pray that all will settle down, even in the present unsafe environment, and gain the education that their communities desperately need in order to build the better life that we all crave.

Can this really work? May students, teachers, and all Americans ponder what David, then a prisoner of the Philistines, declared in Psalm 56 long ago: “...this I know, that God is for me.”

Are we willing to seek the wisdom of David’s God? If we do, is He likely to do less for us than He did for David who not only escaped his enemies but became King of Israel?

I hope we will seek David’s God and learn whether He will show us the defenses at hand, guide us in employing them, and divert us to useful work and away from political haggling.