On the Jericho Road

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208Thu, 15 Jan 2026 07:15:04 +0000BButOn the Jericho RoadThe place where Michael Ruffin asks questions, raises issues, makes observations and seeks help in trying to figure it all out so that together we can maybe, just maybe, do something about it.http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)Blogger1090125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-7258849122861601508Wed, 25 May 2022 18:36:00 +00002022-05-25T14:36:26.902-04:00The Chaos <!--[if gte mso 9]> http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/11/servant-preachers-servant-christians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-2533902561663003268Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:01:00 +00002020-10-22T16:01:33.454-04:00Arc VotingWell, here we are, three weeks from Election Day. We’re in the stretch drive. It’s a sprint to the finish. This one’s for all the marbles. (Apply other cliches as you see fit.)  I guess we think every election is potentially world-altering. Maybe they all are. There’s no doubt that events would have unfolded differently had any election gone the other way. I mean, imagine if the two http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/10/arc-voting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-3282278292742105115Wed, 07 Oct 2020 12:39:00 +00002020-10-07T08:39:19.913-04:00Sixty-TwoI turned sixty-two years old on September 24. My college students think that makes me ancient. Some of you think I’m still young. Those of you were also born in 1958 are probably thinking, “Yeah, me too.” To my contemporaries, I say, “I’m glad we made it.” I also say, “I wish we all had.”Anyway, turning sixty-two is no big deal. Then again it is. For one thing, I’m now old enough to retire. http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/10/sixty-two.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-970888088842923060Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:31:00 +00002020-09-02T08:45:38.302-04:00Wounded LeadersA man named Jacob is one of the lead characters in the biblical book of Genesis, and he’s a fascinating one. He and his brother were twin sons born to a woman named Rebekah, who was married to Abraham’s son Isaac. While Rebekah was pregnant with the boys, she was having so much difficulty that she asked the Lord what was going on. The Lord told her that two nations were struggling within herhttp://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/09/wounded-leaders.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-8995422067436958647Tue, 04 Aug 2020 16:35:00 +00002020-08-04T12:35:35.545-04:00On the Front LinesI’m sure you join me in appreciating those who are on the front lines of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. When we think about the front line warriors fighting the pandemic, medical professionals probably come to mind first. We are grateful for the doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and lab technicians who deal directly with sick people. We appreciate the http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/08/on-front-lines.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-928056130991734724Wed, 08 Jul 2020 14:14:00 +00002020-07-08T10:14:35.056-04:00What Makes You CryIt was summertime, sometime in the late 1960s. I was, as many children did (and I hope still do), participating in the public library’s summer reading program. I was reading Fred Gipson’s 1942 novel Old Yeller. I knew the book was about a boy and his dog. I didn’t know much else about it. I’d never seen the 1957 Walt Disney film based on the book. It might have aired on the Wonderful World of http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/07/what-makes-you-cry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-1735392181629246957Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:37:00 +00002020-07-09T11:45:06.668-04:00I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a ColumnWriting is what I do. I try to observe life—both the life I live, insofar as I can see it, and the lives that others live, insofar as they allow me to see them—and then write about what I see. I am a Christian writer, by which I mean I am a Christian who writes. My writings don’t always live up to some folks’ standards and expectations of Christian writing, by which I mean I don’t always quote http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/06/ill-have-to-say-i-love-you-in-column.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-2300368832457426022Sun, 07 Jun 2020 16:28:00 +00002020-06-08T14:47:05.935-04:00Time, Standing Still and Marching On (A Poem)The Black Lives Matter march in my hometown of Barnesville, Georgia, on Saturday, June 6, 2020, began at the courthouse, went through downtown, crossed the railroad tracks where Main Street becomes Mill Street, turned left at the E. P. Roberts Community Center (named for the long-time educator who was the principal at Booker T. Washington School before the long-awaited, way late, and poorly http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/06/time-standing-still-and-marching-on-poem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-8446601816398262274Wed, 27 May 2020 13:00:00 +00002020-05-27T09:00:28.630-04:00Expertise One piece of the COVID-19 situation that has concerned and confused me is the disdain some people have exhibited toward experts. I was in Baltimore, Maryland a few years ago working at a conference. (Remember the old days when people traveled to conferences?) I was sitting at my table in the Exhibit Hall when I realized that the vision in my right eye had become very blurry. This would have http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/05/expertise.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-617308030187176476Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:47:00 +00002020-04-15T08:47:27.895-04:00Fifty > Forty I’m a words guy. Math isn’t my strong suit, despite the best efforts of Mrs. Pitts, Mrs. Fambro, Mrs. Heinz, Mr. Myles, Mrs. Easton, and Mrs. Byars. Lord knows they tried. (Full disclosure: my math grades were fine. Math just didn’t become part of the fabric of my being as reading and writing did.) But even with my limited mathematical prowess, I know that fifty is greater than forty. (Feel http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/04/fifty-forty.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-3906481570993609298Wed, 01 Apr 2020 12:43:00 +00002020-07-15T09:56:41.772-04:00Snake Handlers and Poison DrinkersModern Bible translations note that the Gospel of Mark probably originally ended at 16:8. Manuscript evidence indicates that the material found in Mark 16:9-20 was probably added a few decades after the Gospel was produced. Most of what’s in those verses is found in the other Gospels. But Mark 16:18 has something that none of the other Gospels have. It says of believers in Jesus, “They will pickhttp://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/04/snake-handlers-and-poison-drinkers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-241727648930558838Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:37:00 +00002020-03-29T13:37:05.737-04:00The Cross and COVID-19 (A reflection on Matthew 27:37-54. This post appeared originally at Coracle, the blog of Next Sunday Resources.) When the devil tested Jesus in the wilderness, he introduced two of his three challenges with, “If you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:3, 6). In refusing the devil’s challenges, Jesus declined to prove his identity on the devil’s terms. To do so would have been to abandon the mission he hadhttp://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-cross-and-covid-19.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-6584744630171957534Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:12:00 +00002020-03-22T20:12:53.877-04:00A Prayer for Use in On-Line Worship During the COVID-19 CrisisO God, We know you see us wherever we are. We know you are with us wherever we are. We know you love us wherever we are. Today, many of us are in our homes, doing what we can to protect ourselves and others from the COVID-19 illness caused by the coronavirus. Some of us are at work, doing all we can to make sure people have life’s necessities during this challenging time. Others of us are http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-prayer-for-use-in-on-line-worship.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-2431096781232873088Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:45:00 +00002020-03-18T11:08:01.009-04:00RepentanceMany Christians observe the forty days (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday as the season of Lent. The name “Lent” comes from an old word meaning “to lengthen,” and, since the days get longer in the spring, it came to name that season. Lent is a season of repentance that is often accompanied by fasting. It being that time of year, I’ve been thinking about what I need http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/03/repentance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-6728057270188032713Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:21:00 +00002020-02-20T15:21:45.471-05:00Let Your Light ShineSometime in the fifth century BC, not too many years after Jewish exiles returned to Judah from Babylon and several hundred years before Jesus was born, a preacher delivered a message preserved for us in the fifty-eighth chapter of the biblical book of Isaiah. The preacher told the people that when it came to worship, they were missing the point. As with all preachers in that day, this one http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/02/let-your-light-shine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-6083736331804002264Thu, 06 Feb 2020 21:21:00 +00002020-02-06T16:21:56.286-05:00MacArthur Park, ReconsideredA few days ago, my wife Debra and I had the privilege of joining our beloved friends, college roommates, and fellow travelers Randy and Jennie Berry at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur to hear Jimmy Webb talk about and play and sing some of the wonderful songs he’s written during the course of his career. And boy howdy, has Webb written some great songs. He wrote three of Glen Campbell’s biggest hits: http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/02/macarthur-park-reconsidered.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-124138130958778315Tue, 21 Jan 2020 21:32:00 +00002020-01-21T16:32:52.322-05:00Wars and Rumors of WarsWar… What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Some of you will recognize those words, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, from Edwin Starr’s 1970 hit single “War.” Released while the war in Vietnam was still raging, it was a bold anti-war statement. Maybe we need to listen to it again. I was twelve years old in 1970 when the song was blasting from radios and jukeboxes, so the http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2020/01/wars-and-rumors-of-wars.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-3720616540285610022Fri, 27 Dec 2019 14:52:00 +00002019-12-27T09:52:21.827-05:00A Christmas MemoryI was born in 1958, so most of my childhood occurred during the 1960s. Each Christmas Day in that decade followed a set schedule. First, I would wake up very early in our little house on Memorial Drive in Barnesville. The house rule was that I had to wake my parents up before going into the living room to see what Santa Claus had brought me. This was so my father could arm himself with his http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-christmas-memory.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-2012441378468009616Tue, 10 Dec 2019 17:12:00 +00002019-12-10T12:12:40.201-05:00AdventThe church is in the middle of the Advent season. The word Advent means “arrival.” During Advent, we anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ. There are four Sundays of Advent. The fourth and last one is the Sunday before Christmas Day. So Advent is a season to anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ in his birth, which we celebrate on December 25, the first day of the twelve days of the Christmashttp://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2019/12/advent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-6586102774928803301Wed, 27 Nov 2019 16:22:00 +00002019-11-27T11:22:03.145-05:00ThankfulI am thankful for… …all the people in this big world of ours. I wish I could know them all. …the few people in this little life of mine. I’m glad I can love them and be loved by them. …the teachers who taught me. …the students who teach me. …public servants who truly serve. …barbecue, fried catfish, steak, and fried chicken, and for surprisingly good cholesterol levels. …all the amazing http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2019/11/thankful.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-414842175329824524Tue, 12 Nov 2019 14:55:00 +00002019-11-13T12:10:25.299-05:00Court ProphetsFirst Kings 22 tells a story about the danger of preachers cozying up to politicians. The story takes place in the ninth century BC. What had been the United Monarchy of Israel under king David and his son and successor Solomon has become two kingdoms. A king named Ahab rules the northern kingdom of Israel, while Jehoshaphat rules the southern kingdom of Judah. The two kings are meeting to http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2019/11/court-prophets_12.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413255903635841208.post-7431962055846679353Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:36:00 +00002019-10-30T08:55:01.281-04:00Baby SharkIf you are the parent or grandparent of a young child or children, you know the song “Baby Shark.” You probably know it even if you aren’t a parent or grandparent. It’s ubiquitous. It’s also everywhere. It’s even in the world of baseball. Specifically, it’s in the Washington Nationals’ part of the world of baseball. That’s a part of the baseball world that I usually pay little attention to http://onthejerichoroad.blogspot.com/2019/10/baby-shark.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Michael Ruffin)0