Bible Trekking – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Today is your day

April 1, 2026

That is correct. As a fool for Christ, today is my day. Many Christian people like to denigrate non-Christians on this first Day of April. They say this is national atheists’ Day. They quote Psalm 14:1 that the fool says there is no God. What about the verses that say that we should be fools for Christ? Since Springfield is home to many Christian organizations, don’t we know these texts?

Paul tells us that the message of the cross is considered foolish by those who are perishing in their sins. To followers of Christ, it is power. (1 Corinthians 1:18) If you do not understand what I mean by this, you need to rethink your relationship with Jesus. He told us we would do greater things than He did.

In the first letter to the Ecclesia at Corinth, he speaks to them as being rich and strong while he and other disciples are hungry and in prison. He says that he is a fool for Christ in I Corinthians 4:10-13. His reasoning is that his audience is wise, honored, strong, and wealthy, but not following their savior’s instructions.

This is because they are working for the Kingdom of God and starving themselves, and being dishonored and considered to be foolish. After all, they disagree with what the world says is important. Has anyone ever ridiculed you for being honest, faithful, and willing to sacrifice yourself to stay loyal to Christ?

I have been following Jesus as my Lord for over fifty years. For the first few years, I was a typical mediocre Christian who had accepted Christ and had my fire insurance. I would go to heaven instead of Hell when I die. I had little joy and did not pray or ask what God wanted me to do with my life.

When I accepted a call to ministry, my whole life changed. I started to make every decision a matter of prayer. This has been a growing process. We all must follow His instructions to become the new creations that He told us we would become after accepting Him.

Paul is accusing most of the Corinthian believers of not being fully committed to their Savior. This is typical of many of us. We believe in Christ as much as we want to. We sometimes ignore a deeper commitment to Him because we have not decided we want to become new creations. Does this mean we are lost? Probably, but not necessarily. We can always change our minds about following our Savior closer.

My story began when my church fired another pastor. I felt that this was not a good thing and began to question the church, God, and my salvation experience. This inquiry led me to decide I needed to mature as a Christian.

We all have our times when we reach a crisis of faith. We can be like Peter and deny Him and then repent of that, or we can be like Judas Iscariot and betray our Savior but refuse to grow from the experience. Don’t let Satan drive you to make an irrevocable choice.

Hosanna

March 29, 2026

I hope that you have heard of Palm Sunday. It is one week before Resurrection Sunday. It celebrates the day that Jesus and His disciples traveled from Bethany to Jerusalem. It was just before the Passover celebration began. Our Lord rode a donkey into the city.

In John 12:1-3, just before Palm Sunday, Jesus’ feet had been anointed by Mary Magdalene at her home, where He and His disciples were staying. This was in preparation for His burial and was the response to those who called it a waste.

As they were traveling to Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of the disciples to find a particular donkey. Read the story of this in Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-41, and Matthew 21:1-9.

The festival lasted for almost a week. The Temple grounds were more like a festival atmosphere. Jesus knew that this was where He would become the final, ultimate sacrifice. This is the time when all the problems with the Sanhedrin come to a head.

The people are celebrating the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem. This was not something that the Jewish leaders wanted to see. He was not the one that they wanted for their Messiah. I believe we often miss Barabbas as this deliverer. When they take Jesus to Pilate, they ask for him to be released.

Before they could make this exchange, they had to arrest Him without causing an uproar that would alert the Romans. This was a well-orchestrated arrest and a conspiracy against our Savior. Don’t worry, because this did not surprise Him in the least.

Let’s look at what else will happen before Good Friday. Jesus will overturn the tables in the courtyard of the Temple. Another conflict with the Jewish leaders. He will be questioned extensively while teaching all over Jerusalem. These attempts to discredit Him only serve to widen the distance between them and the Lord.

Every evening, they return to Bethany, where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are. We are also told that the leaders want a method to kill the man who was raised from the dead, along with the man who brought him back to life. We often miss that point.

Walking back and forth every day was better than taking a chance of being attacked in the dark in the city. Jerusalem, at this time, was not a city that did not sleep even during Passover.

Matthew tells us in chapter 24, verses 18-22, about Jesus cursing a fig tree. He spends this week teaching everything He needed to tell them before His trip to the cross. Each of the gospels reports these teaching opportunities one last time. Begin reading each of the accounts now to know the real story of the crucifixion.

“It just doesn’t happen twice.”

March 27, 2026

This is a line from the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” that is uttered by Tom Hanks, whose character has lost his wife to cancer. He is talking about love that results in a once-in-a-lifetime marriage. Some refer to this as your soulmate. I do not find this concept ever presented in scripture.

Many of the Bible characters that I admire have had multiple relationships that worked. Abrahm and Sarai are an epic. He’s not the perfect husband. She sticks with him even when he wimps out, and not just once. By the time Jehovah renames them to Abraham and Sarah, his faith has grown, and she has learned to trust her husband and God.

After the birth of Isaac and the death of Sarah, Abraham finds other wives and has more children. Those relationships are also important. Their children are the ancestors of many of the Arab nations that hate the Jews.

David’s first wife is the daughter of Saul, who was rewarded for killing Goliath. Read the stories of Abigail and Bethsheba and others. Then there is the last woman in his life. Her one purpose is to keep him warm at night. There is no sexual desire. There is no marriage. She’s a bed warmer. A companion.

As our lives progress, we have many types of love. There are flaming romances. We all experience friendships with others, in both genders. Love can be for both men and women for both men and women because sex is not love. One is physical, and the other is not.

There is brotherly love, which can also be called sisterly love. This is a friendship that is cultivated by those who have it. We need more people who treat others like family. That is the essence of this type of love.

Next, we should talk about the love of parents for children and vice versa. Some believe that this is normal for everyone. It is not. Some children are given up by their birth parents because they do not want them. There are also cases where one parent will leave. Often, this is a problem between the couple. Sometimes it is just selfishness that overrides love.

Jesus tells us that the one attribute we Christians should have is love. Jehovah told the Hebrews to love their neighbor as they love themselves. One man asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Do you remember the answer? He did not say it was the people next door or across the street.

He told a story that many people have heard, even if they have never read the Bible. It is called the Good Samaritan. Samaritans were hated by the Israelites. They lived in what had been the ten northern tribes that rebelled against Solomon’s son.

The kicker of this is that the Samaritan rescued a Jew who had been attacked and left for dead. Jesus also mentioned that a Priest and a Levite saw the injured man and crossed the road to go around him. When our savior spoke of love, it was agape, not any of the human loves. This type of love must happen more than just once.

He knew that

March 23, 2026

Let me take you to around two thousand years ago when a man called Bar-Abbas was going to be crucified for his rebellion against the Roman Empire. He and two of his associates were taken, arrested, and judged to be worthy of death. But something unusual happened.

To his surprise Bar-Abbas received a pardon. When they were nailed to their crosses the other two insurrectionists, were surprised not to see their leader between them. There was a man they did not know. His name is Joshua and he’s from Nazareth. We know Him by His Greek name, Jesus.

Jesus knew that all of this was going to happen. He knew that He would have disagreements with the Jewish leaders and that His words needed to be guarded for the first two years. These arguments would morph into hatred on their part for Him. There was only one way to end up on the cross in the place of a man who wanted to be the Messiah that many thought the Nazarene to be.

The prophetic scriptures give us a picture of two different times when this representative of Yahweh would appear. In one, He came as a baby born in Bethlehem. He grew up as a teacher, shepherd, and friend of the people. His purpose was to die as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all humans.

At another time the mission would be to free the country of Israel and become the King of the Jews. During this period many of the suffering servant and messianic deliverer prophecies were mixed in the writing of the same prophets. Jesus was trying to correct the confusion.

To add to these problems were the personal prophecies of the times between these two appearances of Jesus that He made. He talked of the destruction of the temple and the overthrow of Israel and the Jews being taken away from their promised land for the third time.

Many have accepted Him as the Hebrew Messiah because of these proofs. The fall of Jerusalem and Israel happened after Jesus’ resurrection. Today we know that Israel is facing many hardships due to the hatred they face in the middle east. The Old Testament stories of the first two exiles of the Hebrews from their homeland was well known to Jesus and everyone of His time.

It is hard for most of us to understand how He was able to predict so many things and seemingly read the minds of those around Him. Let me help you with that mystery. He is God. He limited himself to some extent, but His power and knowledge still exceeded that of the rest of us.

Kentucky State Senator Brandon Smith

March 15, 2026

Are certain people exempt from the penalties of our legal system? There are many people who violate our laws every day. In Springfield, police officers run red lights, fail to follow traffic laws, and endanger innocent civilians for no valid reason. As Christians, forgiveness should be our creed. As law-abiding citizens, sometimes we are fed up with those who believe they are above the law.

Another politician has been accused of driving under the influence. Apparently, he is not going to fight the charge that he was intoxicated. His defense is a 100-year-old law that protects legislators during a session. He did not apologize for betraying his constituents’ trust. He did not admit that he was intoxicated when he was stopped. He did not deny that he was intoxicated.

Forgiveness of those who are trying to straighten their lives out might be a good procedure for individuals. It is not for the government. Law enforcement should do that, enforce the laws. Whether someone is a politician, a celebrity, a friend of the police to police themselves, they should face the full force of the law.

Until no one is given special rights, there will be no equal rights for anyone. When equal rights are mentioned, it is usually in response to racial situations. Our officials need to grow up and realize that the privileges they believe they deserve undermine their authority. The voters need to take responsibility away from these lawbreakers. They should force them out of their cushy jobs and require them to work for a living.

Some legislators seem to believe that when they are elected, they become superior to the electorate. The only way to stop this is to remove everyone who shows this type of arrogant attitude. Voters often believe that their legislators should be forgiven, while those from other areas should be removed from their offices. No wonder our country is in the condition it is in.

You all know that our current President still says that he won the election in 2020. He claims it has been proven to be true. The main one who believes this is himself. He cannot admit that he lost. His claim of this injustice brought him back to the eye of the voters, who believe the other lies he tells. He has had to take a step back from his Gestapo tactics against illegal aliens and fire someone to be the scapegoat.

In November of this year, you will have the opportunity, again, to positively affect our political system. Look at everything that you can find about candidates. Keep in mind that both Republicrats and Demicans have caused our government to be shut down twice. None of them has lost a dime of pay.

Spiritual fruit

March 10, 2026

Can I tell you that I do not mind being called fruity, if you are referring to the fruit of the spirit? These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As a Christian, this is how we should measure ourselves. Don’t fall into the trap of being judgmental. It is easy to do.

Galatians 5:22 begins with love. It is interesting that Paul also includes patience as the first attribute of love in First Corinthians 13 when he defines Agape’ for us. Kindness is also included in that list. I think he is trying to tell me something. Patience and kindness are important. We should not ignore the other parts of love. No envying, rudeness, selfishness, irritability, or resentment are also part of how God loves us.

Joy and peace are two words to look at more closely. Happiness is fleeting. Joy is also temporary if we let it be. Fruitful joy is hard to accomplish without Holy Spirit. Joy does not mean that you never have a bad day. When things are not going your way, joy lets you realize that things will become better. We let our minds betray us into thinking that our life is bad when it is just life.

Peace also can elude those who work without Him. It is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of love and joy. Do you accept what the Lord has given you? Paul tells us to give thanks in all things. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) He also states in Philippians 4:11 that he has learned to be content. Notice the use of the word learned. Contentment is something we must also train ourselves to have.

Patience is the most difficult thing for me. “Lord, give me patience and give it to me now, it is what I usually pray. That prayer may miss the mark. Be careful about asking for it. His answer will continually test you. Patience is hard because we live in an instant society. We have our phones with us and can call, text, or check the internet thousands of times a day. I grew up at a time when we did not even have a home phone.

We all know how to be kind, good, and gentle. These may need to be tweaked by the Spirit. Follow His guidance, and you will arrive quicker. Again, these need to be intentional. We know what to do; we just need to be reminded to do it all day long. Practice it, and it will become as automatic as breathing or your heartbeat.

Self-control is another tough one. Notice that the word control follows self, indicating who should be in control. For Christians, we can hand this job over to Holy Spirit, if we will let Him take leadership of our lives. That becomes easier the more you do it.

I desire that you all become fruitier as I try to do the same. I mentioned judgment earlier. Let’s avoid that and try for discernment. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) This is one of the gifts of the Spirit. You cannot have these gifts if your spirit is still dead. A relationship with Jesus is needed for the rebirth of your spirit. (John 3:1-21) After you start that relationship, the fruits will appear if you cultivate them.

Being

March 4, 2026

Moses was standing there in the wilderness talking to a bush. Imagine if you walked up on this scene. I know what I would think. This man has been in the sun too long. He has completely lost it. And yet, he was talking to the creator of the universe.

Hard to conceive of a bush being the presence of the almighty God. He tells us He is omnipresent. As they say of Chicken man, “He’s everywhere. He’s everywhere.” The bush should have been consumed by the fire that attracted his attention. He stood there and a voice came from the fire and said to take off his shoes because he was standing on sacred ground. The presence of Yahweh is holy.

Moses asked who he should tell people it was that had sent him. “I am that I am, has sent you.” He has always been, He is, and He will always be. Got it? Probably not. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” God just said that He was.

No explanation, just go and get my people out of slavery and tell them that the I Am sent you. He exists. God is not dead. God is not an imaginary concept of the human mind. Jehovah has always existed. Religion may be the opiate of the people and yet, there is a supreme creator God.

Yahweh is another way to say I Am. It is another Hebrew way of saying being. It is a simple way of stating that He was, is, and will always be. He cannot die, but He was born as a human being and was named Jesus by His Earthly mother.

Years ago, one of my nephews asked me, “If God made everything, who made God?” My answer was not an easy one. I had been warned by my brother that his son would be asking this question. I prayed and thought about what I could say. On that day, I still did not have an answer until I replied to him.

“God has always existed. That is what makes Him God.” That is how I responded. That is what I Am means. Until that moment when I answered the question, I did not get it. Now I do. When someone asks you about this, use that answer. God gave it to me, and I am giving it to you.

For those of you that do not believe that Jesus is God let me explain. The Christ said, “I and the Father are One.” (John 10:30) He also said, “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11) “I am the Door.” (John 10:7) “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35) And the reason He was crucified was because he told the Jewish leaders He was the Messiah. (Matthew 26:64) He said, “I Am.”

Think about this for a little while. Jehovah has always existed. He is. Read the Bible. I could give you many more examples than the ones I have included here. I will save those until another column. When I finish “Cosmic Flatulence” and “The Inedible Credible Egg” you can read them.

Tools

March 1, 2026

I’ve used a lot of them in my life. This is the first in a series of columns that are on these useful instruments. Anthropology tells us that these are signs of creatures being humanlike. Genesis does not bother to tell us when the wheel or other tools were invented.

Fire is another tool that Moses did not see fit to discuss. Much has been written about it. I’ll talk more about it another time. When I saved this file, I had to put it in a category, and I chose the Words file. They are one of my favorite tools.

The thought that sparked this article was my splitting maul. I know many of you are not familiar with this apparatus. I purchased mine over thirty years ago. We had moved onto Talmage Street to the second home that we owned. It had a wood stove in the family room.

These were invented by Ben Franklin. The wood stove, not the splitting maul. Our stove was not a Franklin type, but it was efficient enough to supplement the heating in our four-bedroom, two-bath house. I am probably incorrect when I say Ben invented the stove. He developed the Franklin Stove. I also probably need to be more specific about wood stoves.

In the nineteen-eighties I saw a picture of a wood stove that was only good for one use. It was not safe. It was made of wood. I am talking of a steel unit designed to burn wood. Today I split wood to fuel our fireplace in our current home. This is considered a luxury item in today’s standards.

Before gas, coal, or central heating, it was common in every structure. Our first load of wood was purchased by my mother. It came cut and split. Have you seen those small bundles of wood at grocery and home stores? They usually appear in the fall. Those are for apartment dwellers that have a fireplace for decorative purposes.

Some of my friends began bringing us cut logs for our stove. It must be sacked and cured to burn properly. I cover mine with a tarp to keep it relatively dry. It was not long before I became aware of our need for a device to split the larger logs. That is when I purchased my maul. You can split with an axe, but it is not as efficient as a triangular head mail.

I learned this from my travels as a salesman at the time. Some of my customers sold these items in many designs and styles. I even called on one plant that manufactured stoves, which stocked assorted accessories for the stoves. I discussed the splitting mauls with the salesmen at these companies and discovered one that I thought was best for me.

It has a heavy triangular steel head welded to a steel handle with a cushioned grip. Buying it was the easy part. Learning how to use it properly has taken me many years. The best way that I have discovered is to place the log to be split on a shorter log. You raise the maul and allow the weight of the head to propel it down with the aid of gravity.

The trick is to hit the end of the log in a spot that will split. This takes trial and error with each different log. That first winter after I had my maul, I learned the best time to split wood was when it was frozen. The fibers are more rigid and separate more easily at twenty degrees Fahrenheit or less.

I am sure many of you wonder why I just wasted your time explaining all of this. That is the thing about all tools. Some of us use them, and others care less about those they do not need. Is that how you treat people? I hope not.

I don’t always understand

February 25, 2026

“I trust His ways, but I do not always understand them.” It is a line by John Ritter as Reverend Matthew Fordwick in the Waltons TV series from the 1970s. This is from season 1, episode 24, where Olivia is diagnosed with polio. This series is set in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Polio was a devastating disease at that time that had no vaccine available to protect the population.

Reverend Fordwick comes to visit Mrs. Walton in the early days of her illness and is questioned by Grandma as to the seriousness of the disease. She replies that she thought he was a man of God. His reply is one that I, as a minister, have used myself. I have also stated when asked why God allows or causes things to happen that I am in sales, not in management.

I’ve worked in sales and management for different companies. In a position where my job was to convince customers to purchase products, there were some questions I could not answer. When I was a store manager, it was my responsibility to always answer a client’s questions to the best of my ability. I did my best in both situations.

There were times when customers would not like my decisions about how to solve a problem. I had superiors whom they could refer to. On more than one occasion, I gave the names and contact information to the complainer. Not once was I overturned. This was not the case in every management position I occupied.

I do not understand why God created human beings. I know, I’ve heard the preachers say that He needed someone to love. He already created dogs and cats. They are more lovable than most people. My cat is on my lap at this moment, and the dog is next to Cindy.

Yes, sometimes the dog doesn’t do what he is told to, but the cat never follows orders. And unlike children, you cannot beat her into submission. She’s too fast. Turn around, and she is gone, and you will never find her.

I do not understand why, when He loved us so much, we must take care of the animals. Why weren’t they created to work for us and let us lie around all day and sleep? Put a bowl of Chex mix on the table with my insulated cup of iced tea, and I’ll be fine. No one is required to take me outside or clean my litter box.

If I were God, I would . . . have really botched things up. I don’t even know what my wife wants for Christmas. How would I keep the seas from flooding the shores and tell the birds and the butterflies when to fly south? Maybe I should just accept that He knows best and let Him stay in charge. Especially in my life.

City Utilities

February 24, 2026

Yes, once again, I am speaking about local events here in Springfield, Missouri, where I live. We are the third largest city in our state and the largest of all the Springfields in the U.S. If you think I am incorrect, check the last census. I’m not like the President; you can check your facts to prove me right or wrong.

A company seeking to provide battery storage for our utility company may be denied access to property near my home. There are infrastructure and groundwater contamination problems that their proposal does not address. This company does not have a lot of experience here in our country.

C.U. still needs a cost-effective solution for expanding its services as our area grows even more. I would like to make a suggestion. Would it help to eliminate about twenty percent of your consumers from your grid? Not just drop them as customers, but change them to suppliers of energy.

Some areas allow or even encourage users to install solar and wind generators on their property. These can be businesses or homes. They can invest in the equipment to produce and store energy, and electric companies purchase the surplus that they generate. If five percent of your local users become suppliers, that might be a large part of solving this future problem.

There is a house down the street from us where a previous owner had a turbine and solar panels. Unlike some homes, his panels were raised on a frame that would allow him to point them at the sun as it traveled through the sky. I always wanted to stop and ask him about these devices and never took the time.

Both technologies have improved over the years to a point where they are more efficient than they once were. Remember, I am speaking from sixty years of experience. I am a novice in my knowledge of how it works, not in the fact that it is useful.

On a recent trip, Cindy and I saw wind turbines in a hay field, and at other times we have seen the arrays of solar panels. I have also observed businesses and homes installing these devices on their buildings and properties to supply their electrical needs. I watch commercials about storage units that can be attached to maintain independence from electrical grids in power outages.

Let me mention factories that I called on, which had waste materials that they used to power generators to supply the requirements of not just the plants, but the neighborhoods around them. I’ve been at Evangel University’s and School of the Ozarks power stations and seen how these operate.

One of my customers in the 1990s made loads of money designing and building generators for those who wanted to be prepared in case the dire predictions associated with computers at the turn of this century came true. I spoke with him shortly before he retired to a farm where his family was ready to survive no matter what happened after December 1999.

I am making these statements to spark interest by our utility suppliers in encouraging individual investments as a way of increasing their power supply. Long-term contracts and government assistance might be used to reduce the costs for everyone involved.

Do a little research and explore the feasibility of these options. I failed to mention the methane plant I saw where a sawmill had dumped sawdust and woodchips for decades. This plant had been powering electricity for one community for over a year when it was pointed out to me late in the last century.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Category: Bible Trekking