Tommy Mann

  Do you remember how much fun it was to play hide and seek when we were kids? It was especially great when I knew I had the best hiding place. There were times I was completely hidden from my friends, and I could hear them asking, “Where is he?” Those were the words that let me know I was going to win. Now that I am grown I don’t play much hide and seek. Adults don’t typically look for hiding places, although sometimes we might wish we could hide away. But there is a hiding place we all need. Psalm 119:114 says, “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.”   This psalm is similar to one of David, which contains the line, “For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent (27:5).”   Why would this writer need a hiding place? He was neither a child nor playing with his children. He needed a hiding place because of the people who bookend this verse. Psalm 119:113 mentions the doubleminded, and v.115 speaks of evildoe

There is a great example of the provisions of God in Exodus 15. Shortly after the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, they began to complain because their canteens were empty and the people were parched. Their mouths were as dry as the desert they were traversing. And then they saw it—a river of water that could quench their thirst.   But there was a problem. They couldn’t stomach the water because it had a bitter taste. Verse 23 says, “When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.”   Marah is the Hebrew word for bitter. This place was probably not named Marah at the time, but was so dubbed by the disappointed Hebrews. They started to turn on Moses, blaming him for all their problems. But the Lord directed Moses to a certain log and told him to cast it into the water. Once he did, Marah lost its bitterness, and the people were able to drink until they were satisfied.    That was a temporary solution to their

I recently heard a story about a lost high school ring. A man was using a metal detector in Barbados when he stumbled upon a piece of jewelry that he could tell had been there for a while. The ring was old, and the odds of ever tracking down its owner were miniscule, so most people would have headed to the nearest pawn shop to make a few bucks. But not this man.   Because the ring had the name of the school and the graduation year, he looked up the school and reached out to them. They were able to comb through their records and eventually conclude who it once belonged to.     It turns out the ring had been missing for fifty years. And the owner? They found him and mailed the ring, which arrived the day before his 83 rd  birthday. When I heard that story on the news it occurred to me that if he lost the ring fifty years earlier, and he was 83, then he was about 33 when he lost it.    You know who wears a high school ring in their 30’s? People who really like their high school ring. Thin

This time of year people have a desire to be scared. They will dress up in scary costumes, go to haunted houses, and watch movies that keep them on the edge of their seat. While I have never had much of an appetite for such things, many enjoyed being afraid.       The Bible tells us a little fear can be a good thing.  The author of Hebrews wrote in 4:1, “Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”   The rest he spoke of referred to their ancestors resting in the Promised Land. Unfortunately for that first generation, they failed to enter that rest when they turned on God (and Moses); when they weren’t complaining, they were doubting. They finally decided they didn’t want to go into the Promised Land because they didn’t believe God would give them victory.    They failed to enter their rest, but the author warned of missing another, and better, kind of rest—eternity with God. The offer was still on

  On the night of the Tenth Plague in Egypt God told Moses He was going to pass through the land and strike down all the firstborn, but He would spare each household where the blood of a spotless lamb was applied to the outside of the door.   Exodus 12:23 says, “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.”   God was clear. He was going to pass through, but for some He would pass over.    That is not just an old story, but serves as a model of what is going to happen in the future. God has promised to return, and when the Lord comes again He will come in judgment. John the Baptist said His winnowing fork will be in His hand (Luke 3:17). Jesus said He would separate the wheat from the chaff (Matthew 13:24-30); in another passage He said He would divide the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). The wheat and

Many Christians say they don’t pray or read their Bible because they don’t have the time. Maybe there is something else they know they should do—like volunteering—that they can’t find the time for.    Wouldn’t it be great if we could find more time? Time isn’t a needle hiding in a haystack though; it is staring us right in the face every time we look at a clock. Like most people, I wish there were more hours in a day, but we have to learn to work with the 24 hours we have been given.   In the 1979 book  The Mighty Micro,  a prediction was made that by the year 2000, people would enjoy a 20-hour work week, and retire by age 50. Thanks to advances in technology there just wouldn’t be that much actual work to do. We are almost a quarter of a century past the year 2000, and people seem busier than ever.    There are so many things vying for our time, fighting to get their hands on some of our 24 hours, that if we do not prioritize, we will find our time has been stolen away by things that