Author: Rick Tryon

Why Shepherds?

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Thomas Cole – The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds

While reading the account of the angel announcing the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2, one of my grandchildren asked a great question: “Why did God choose shepherds to hear about it first?”

Here are three well-known commentary perspectives.

God reveals Himself to the lowly, not the powerful

Leon Morris (Tyndale New Testament Commentary – Luke)
Morris notes that shepherds were among the humblest workers in Jewish society. Their selection fits Luke’s repeated theme that God exalts the lowly and bypasses the proud (Luke 1:52). By announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds rather than kings or priests, God shows that the gospel begins with grace, not status.

Shepherds highlight the theme of Jesus as the true Shepherd

Darrell L. Bock (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament – Luke)
Bock points out the strong shepherd imagery throughout Scripture and Luke’s Gospel. The angelic announcement to shepherds subtly introduces Jesus’ future role as the one who will shepherd God’s people (cf. Micah 5:2–4). The messianic identity of Jesus is foreshadowed by the audience chosen to hear the news.

Shepherds serve as credible witnesses to God’s work

Joel B. Green (NICNT – The Gospel of Luke)
Green emphasizes that shepherds, though socially insignificant, become the first human witnesses to the Messiah’s birth. Luke consistently shows God using unexpected people to bear witness. Their testimony demonstrates that divine revelation creates trustworthy witnesses, not social rank.

Your Life And What Comes After (17): The Grand Plan

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Two boys showed up for the soapbox derby with the same goal: win the race. Tim slapped his car together the night before. Boards didn’t quite line up, the wheels wobbled, and the steering was more hope than design. He figured speed would take care of itself once he got rolling.

When Wells showed up he was ready. He had a plan. He measured twice, tightened every bolt, tested the wheels, and adjusted the steering until it tracked straight. When the race started, Tim flew fast—for about five seconds—before drifting off course. Wells rolled steady, straight, and true all the way to the finish.

The Plan Begins

A goal is where you want to go. A plan is how you actually get there.

After Adam and Eve messed up, God didn’t just give up on His original plan to have a family to share His awesome creation with forever.

Genesis 3:15 is the first promise of God’s rescue plan.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Right after Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, everything seemed broken—the relationship between people and God was damaged.

In Genesis 3:15, God promised that one day a descendant of the woman would defeat the one that hates God and deceived Adam and Eve, even though that serpent would strike back. This verse shows the starting point of God’s plan to overcome evil and restore what was lost. Long before Jesus was born, God was pointing forward to His plan to save and heal the world through a promised Savior.

The Bible is the story of how that grand plan is unfolding in history, how different people plugged into it, and what your part in it is.

Your Life And What Comes After (16): Looking Back, Moving On

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As we walk together down this road called “Your Life And What Comes After” we’ve seen a lot of interesting scenery. Now we’re moving on to the next part of the journey with some new sights to see.

Where We’ve Been

So far we’ve talked about some pretty questions, right?

Why did God create the universe and people?

Why is there something instead of nothing?

How do you find your own purpose within God’s grand plan and purpose?

Here’s a brief recap of some of the main things we’ve talked about so far:

We are God’s family, and we are the reason He created this beautiful blue gem called Earth and the universe that surrounds it. His love and attention are centered on us, and our eternal destiny with Him is His grand plan—and our purpose.

If you believe your life is the result of chance alone, with no purpose, and that you are only slightly luckier and a little smarter than a chimpanzee, then you will begin to see others that way too. Don’t sell yourself or others short.

But if you come to know and believe that you are the magnificent handiwork of God—fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), created intentionally and for a purpose—then you will live differently. You will love boldly. You will stand firmly. And you will shine like the stars forever, just as Scripture promises.

Daniel 12:3
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Where We’re Going

So how does God actually carry out His plan and purpose for creation? That’s where we’re headed next. Heads up—we’re going to have to open the Bible to get there.

Because Scripture is where God reveals His plan—and shows us how He’s been carrying it out all along. And once you see it, you won’t look at your life the same way again.

Stay tuned.

Your Life And What Comes After (15): The You Miracle, Part Two

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Callum had grown up with the huge Christmas tree, tall enough to brush the ceiling and packed with ornaments he knew by heart. On Christmas Eve, he scanned the branches—and felt it instantly. Something was wrong. Between the silver bells and red ribbon, a space sat empty. The old brass lantern was missing.

He searched everywhere—under the couch, behind the curtains, in coat pockets. Finally, in the kitchen, he spotted a dull glint in the corner. The lantern lay there, dusty but safe. Callum carried it back and hung it where it belonged. The tree felt whole again.

Did the brass lantern ornament not matter much just because there were lot’s of other ornaments on the tree? No. To Callum they all mattered and each one was special.

You Are a Miracle

So if Callum knew each ornament and was aware of the place each one held on the tree, how much more does God know you personally and the place you hold in His creation and in His plan?

In this verse, Jesus points to sparrows—cheap, common birds, barely worth a coin—and says not one of them falls to the ground without the Father’s notice. Then He looks even closer: ‘the very hairs of your head are numbered.’

Matthew 10:29-30
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Your life is not a loose thread in the universe or a meaningless life among billions of others. You are seen, valued, and cared for by God Himself.

God knows about and pays attention to falling sparrows, and He numbers the hairs on our heads—easy to count in my case, since there are very few left.

You matter—more than you can see, and more than you can measure. You have a purpose and a life that only you can live, one whose full impact may reach farther than you ever see.

…We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
Marianne Williamson

Life is a miracle. You are a miracle. Tell yourself those two things every day and your life will become a brilliant light that can’t be dimmed.

Your Life And What Comes After (14): The You Miracle, Part One

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Prince Philip’s character in Netflix’s The Crown (Season 3, Episode 7, “Moondust”) said this about his disappointment in what they found when American astronauts landed on the moon in 1968:

“The loneliness and emptiness and anticlimax of going all that way to the moon and finding nothing but haunting desolation, ghostly silence, gloom. That is what faithlessness is. As opposed to finding wonder, ecstasy, the miracle of divine creation, God’s design and purpose.”

Are We Alone?

The universe contains trillions of galaxies, each with billions of stars—more than we could count in a thousand lifetimes. Worlds beyond worlds are scattered across an ocean of space so vast it makes Earth seem like a speck of dust.

You’d think someone else would be out there by now. But so far, the cosmos has been… quiet.

No alien signals. No visitors. No confirmed microbes on Mars or the moons of Jupiter. Just an overwhelming stillness.

So no, I don’t believe in little green men or flying saucers zipping around our skies. I believe we are the only beings God created in His image—and that He made the Earth and the universe for us to share eternal life with Him.

God’s Focus Is On Us. On You.

What if life on this planet is incredibly special and rare—not because the universe is empty, but because we are the characters in God’s story?

What if Earth is not one of many planets where living, thinking beings exist, but the only place in His vast creation where God chose to create His family?

A vast universe does not make us insignificant. It makes God’s focus on us even more astonishing.

And that makes you a very, very special and important person in the universe. More on that coming up.

They Said It: Four Quotes On The Book Of Judges

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Here are four interesting and insightful quotes about the seventh book of the Bible, Judges.

G. Campbell Morgan

“The book of Judges reveals the awful peril of forgetting God and the inevitable chaos that follows when there is no recognized authority under Him.”

Judges 21:25 (KJV):

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Barry G. Webb

“Judges is not a book of heroes so much as a book of failure—failure of leadership, failure of faith, and failure of the people to live as God’s covenant community.”

Judges 2:10–11 (KJV):

“And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim.”

Daniel I. Block

“The judges were not saviors in the full sense but instruments of divine mercy, raised up in a time of moral and spiritual collapse.”

Judges 2:16 (KJV):

“Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.”

Tremper Longman III

“The repeated refrain, ‘Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,’ is not a celebration of freedom but a diagnosis of Israel’s sickness.”

Judges 17:6 (KJV):

“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Your Life And What Comes After (13): The Body Miracle

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In the early 1950s, biologist Rosalind Franklin was studying DNA at King’s College in London. In 1952, she captured an image—later known as Photo 51—that revealed a striking X-shaped pattern. Franklin carefully analyzed the data, and saw that it that showed DNA was made of two strands wound together, with the genetic codes protected inside.

Her data later led to the correct model of DNA in 1953. The discovery showed how the human body stores, copies, and passes on life’s instructions with amazing detail. What had been invisible inside every cell suddenly became understandable—uncovering the molecular language that is the basis of the immune system, inheritance, and life itself.

Three Ways Your Body Declares You Were Designed on Purpose

Modern culture tells us we’re just globs of cells waiting to die and decay in a universe that doesn’t care. But your body tells a different story. It doesn’t whisper, “You’re just an accident”—it shouts, “What an awesome miracle you are!”

Here are three miracles in your physical body that quietly—but powerfully—rebel against the idea that you don’t matter.

Your Immune System Remembers What Tried to Kill You

Your immune system doesn’t just fight—it remembers. Once it meets a threat, it records the encounter and sets up a faster, stronger response the next time. Sometimes that memory lasts a lifetime.

Your body was built not just to survive the present, but to prepare for the future. That’s wisdom at the cellular level, not an accident.

“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil.”
—Psalm 121:7

You Are Constantly Changing—Yet You Remain You

Your body replaces billions of cells every day. Skin renews. Blood refreshes. Bones rebuild. And still, you remain. Your memories, identity, and sense of self don’t dissolve with each cellular swap.

If you were just a glob of skin and bones walking around, you’d be a different person every few years. Instead, you remain you. Scripture calls this being “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Biology agrees: something holds you together beyond chemistry.

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
—Psalm 139:14

Your Heart Beats Without Asking Permission

Your heart doesn’t wait for instructions from your brain. It has its own built-in electrical system, firing over 100,000 times a day without you thinking once about it. Even removed from the body and supplied with oxygen, a heart can continue beating.

That’s not an accident. That’s by design.

The Bible says God “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). Your heartbeat is a daily reminder of that.

“In him we live, and move, and have our being.”
—Acts 17:28

So What?

Your body is not an accident trying to survive in a meaningless universe. It is a living system fine-tuned by God’s own hand for a glorious purpose.

Believing you’re just a clump of cells makes life cheap.
Believing you were designed on purpose—and for a purpose—is rebellion against darkness.

Well done, fellow rebel.

Your Life And What Comes After (12): The Existence Miracle, Part Two

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So What?

What difference does it make in daily life that something exists instead of nothing? Isn’t that just a mind-bending, philosophical question without real meaning?

No.

Here’s why: If everything exists because God willed it, then your life is not an accident drifting through a meaningless universe. You are not just background noise in a cold, accidental existence. You exist because our Creator wanted a creation where relationship, meaning, and purpose were real.

Believing nothing matters is easy and leads to a “who cares?” take on life. Not good.

Believing God created you on purpose and for a purpose—that’s rebellion against darkness and a defiant shout that says, “I matter!”

The Source Matters

When Scripture says,

“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.”
—Romans 11:36 (KJV)

it’s making a claim about reality itself. Everything starts with God, is held by God, and always points back to God—including you.

So when the question comes up—Why is there something instead of nothing?—the Bible’s answer is simple:

There is something because God chose creation over emptiness.

God is the reason everything exists, and when you look closely, you see Him everywhere. And that’s not nothing.

Your Life And What Comes After (11): The Existence Miracle, Part One

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“Why is the sky blue?” a student asked the teacher one day. “And how can the moon cover the sun during a solar eclipse if the sun is way bigger?”

The teacher nodded. “Ah, good questions—they sound simple, but they point to how amazing our world is.”

“For the sky,” she said, turning to the window, “sunlight looks white, but it’s actually made of many colors. When that light enters Earth’s atmosphere, the tiny gas molecules scatter the shorter blue wavelengths more than the others. Blue light gets spread all across the sky, reaching your eyes from every direction, so the sky looks blue.” She paused. “At sunrise and sunset, the light has to pass through more atmosphere, the blues scatter away, and you see reds and oranges instead.”

“As for our second question, the sun is much bigger—about 400 times bigger than the moon,” she said. “But it’s also about 400 times farther away, which makes them appear almost exactly the same size in the sky. So when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, it can cover it perfectly.”

A Different Question

Science can answer lots of questions—except maybe the most important one:
Why is there something instead of nothing?

Most people don’t stop to ask why reality exists at all. We just look at what’s in front of us without stopping to ask why there’s anything there to look at in the first place.

“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
—Hans Christian Andersen

A Solid Answer

The Bible doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to the answer. It opens with it.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
—Genesis 1:1 (KJV)

Something exists because Someone already did. That Someone is God the Creator, and everything we see and experience exists because He meant it to exist and brought it into being for a purpose.

Nothing Doesn’t Create

Nothing has no power, no will, no potential. If nothing were the true starting point, nothing would still be all there is. The universe didn’t reason itself into existence. Life didn’t organize itself by wishful thinking.

If you train yourself to see everything and everyone around you—in every moment of your day—as part of the incredible miracle of existence, your life will change in amazing ways. Trust me.