egw eimi h odoV kai h alhqeia kai h zwh.

I attended a family reunion in Oklahoma the weekend before last. Several other groups were also using the same resort facility, including at least one other family reunion. There was also a group of college students on a leadership retreat. One young lady had a t-shirt with these characters, which happens to be in the original Greek.

egw eimi
h odoV
kai h alhqeia
kai h zwh.

I looked at the shirt and slowly pronounced the Greek words (as best I could with my southern Missouri accent). And then I translated the phrase to English. I will purposefully refrain from identifying the verse at this time so any readers who have studied Greek can look at it again and test themselves!

We went on to visit for a few minutes and her campus ministry leader came along and shared with us as well. She was a Christian and the shirt was an expression of her faith. She told me I was the first one who had ever come up and read the verse to her and translated it, but the intent is for others to approach her and ask, "What does that mean?", which can give her an opportunity to express her faith. *

They are the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ, "I am the way, the truth and the life." (The entire verse states "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" and is found in John 14:6.)

That is the message we all need to present to our world. Although the concept of absolute or relative truth may seem merely philosophical to some, another inane discussion for academia, it is at the very heart of our battle against the forces of evil. It's deadly. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12). Now many contend that there are many ways and no single right way. Even asserting that there is a single right way is unloving and intolerant to some.

Those of us who boldly and unashamedly assert the Biblical exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only way to the Father are maligned as ignorant and narrow-minded bigots.  Well, label me.  So be it. That is what my Lord Jesus taught!  His statement might be labeled the very essence of intolerance.

The early apostles were also very intolerant in this regard.  They proclaimed, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).  And later the apostle Paul wrote, "there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

"Lord, help us today to contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the saints!" (see Jude 3)


Be encouraged today,


Stephen C. Weber

"Jesus, we thank You that salvation comes from You alone.  Thank you that You are enough.  We would come up far short if we relied on our good works, our charming personality, our status in life or our worldly accumulation to purchase our salvation.  You are the sinless Lamb of God, the only acceptable sacrifice to God, who provides salvation to every man, woman, boy and girl from every region on the face of this earth who call upon Your name.  Keep reminding us that we cannot earn our salvation because You give it freely.  We choose to receive Your gift of salvation through faith in You, Jesus Christ our Lord.  And we are intensely grateful for Your merciful compassion toward us.  In the name of Jesus we give thanks.  Amen."

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Personal Note from Brooksyne:  Georgia Mae, Stephen's mother is in the hospital in Hershey, PA.  When she awakened yesterday I noticed that she was very short of breath and a little confused.  She seemed oblivious to her health situation so it took some convincing to get her to go to the hospital.  She's been in the ER since about 11:00 A.M. yesterday due to a bed shortage at the hospital.  Georgia has leukemia and has been on some chemo drugs to help stabilize her very rare blood disorder.  After much testing yesterday they concluded that she has a chest infection and her lungs are filled with fluid.  She's been on 10 liters of oxygen since last night and yet her oxygen saturation was still below acceptable levels.  With additional treatment her sats stabilized through the night.  She received two blood transfusions which should help her today.  The doctors are also giving her very powerful antibiotics to fight the chest infection and strong diuretics to deal with the fluid build-up.  We certainly appreciate theprayers of her family members and the good folks who read this dailyencouragement.  We will update as things change. 

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My Mom along with my two brothers and sister taken at the reunion. My oldest brother Mike is at her left and my younger sister Genelle at her right. On the second row that's me on the left and my older brother Pat on the right. Our dad went to be with the Lord in 1998.

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This morning I caught this butterfly outside and Brooksyne held it for me for a photo.

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In Brooksyne prayer today she writes, "Thank you that You are enough." This brings to mind a song I have really enjoyed lately by Christ Tomlin. Here's an online audio sample.
I first heard this song in a church up in Connecticut and it has really blessed me since.

Longtime readers know that I enjoy periodically placing audio files on this site as a musical supplement to the daily message. I am aware that these may not work on every computer system and I also get confused by legal type issues and certainly want to do all things well. Here's a separate page concerning this:

* I would sure like to have a shirt like this but have never seen one and the campus leader thought it was something unique to her church.