Love potion no. 1

November 14, 2025

Do you recognize the song “Love Potion No. Nine?” It originated in 1959, recorded by The Clovers and returned in 1964 by The Searchers when it reached #2 and #3 on the charts. Many other groups have released it. A young man goes to a gypsy and asks for something to improve his love life.

The question I have is “What is Love?” Is it a feeling? Can you get someone to love you if they do not want to? Can you fall in and out of love? These are questions that a lot of people have asked over the years.

Just so you know, I am talking about the Biblical view of the word agape’ that is translated in the King James Version (KJV) of the scriptures. There are five words in the Greek language that are translated love. I like to transliterate, which means I will be substituting agape’ for love in the verses I relate to you.

I will try not to confuse you with this substitution. One of the most used definitions of agape is in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, where it says that love is patient, love is kind.

My question when someone asks me if they are in love is, “Are you patient with them?” Patience is what few of us have with others. If we want patience, we want it right now. That is counterproductive. When you are loved with Godly love, they will wait on you to speak, to make decisions, and to meet them in places.

If they are impatient, it is not agape that they have toward you. I started to say, if they feel agape’ love, but agape’ is not an emotion. It is an action. The D.C. Talk song “Love is a Verb” talks about this kind of love. “I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what you’ve heard. Love, love, love is a verb.”

Saying something three times shows that your thought is complete. There is nothing else to say about that. Right, Forest?   I often use the phrase, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Three phrases complete the thought.

Another question I like to ask is, “Are you kind to them?” That usually generates a weird look and/or a “huh.” God’s type of love is the one where you want to be kind. Not the one where you use them or take advantage of them. They are not your possession. You love a friend with agape’ love. The love that most of us think of is the Greek word Eros. This is sex. I’ve talked about lust before. That is not love; it is physical desire.

If sex is what you thought this column was about, you were wrong. I am sorry, you do not need my instruction in how to sex more often or with someone new. That is not who I am. I want you to have a better relationship with either a husband or a wife or people you have nonsexual relationships with.

That is the end of Love Potion no. 1. We will continue with what love is as no. 2. Those contain, “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” I know I may have lost some of you with patience and kindness. You may not want to come back for the next dose of God’s love potion.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Fear

November 12, 2025

This is the second part of a trilogy and possibly even an entire book. The first column was entitled “Stupidity.” It was published on Duloigroup.org on October 25th this year. It was triggered by a quotation from the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

God has been speaking to me about that article and convinced me I need to go further with these thoughts. There will be at least two others. They are fear and anger. I am beginning to understand that these three things are the cause of all the world’s and our personal problems.

Fear has been causing me a lot of difficulty lately. My wife, daughter, and two grandchildren have been involved in automobile accidents recently. I’m becoming more afraid of their safety on the road. The only one seriously injured was my oldest grandson.

The causes were inattention, substance abuse, or just plain stupidity. None of the wrecks was caused by my family. Two were simple rear-end collisions. One driver stayed, and the impaired driver fled and was later apprehended. The third involved the next most dangerous vehicular crime, running a red light.

This happens every day. That is why I am afraid. Our lawmakers and law enforcement need to do something. Either the courts tie their hands or they don’t care. That scares me. I make this opinion known at the poles, as you should next year.

The news terrifies me. We fight a war against crime, terror, and fear every day, and I have a difficult time watching that unfold several times each day. My fear is caused by stupidity and a lack of caring, both in myself and others. It isn’t just what may happen to my family that concerns me.

I know that you have fears, as well. They may be for the loss of a job and income, loss of a spouse through death or divorce. There are millions of things that we can be afraid of. The one I am most concerned about is not doing what Jesus asks of me. My desire is that this is one of the things on your mind. Let’s both attempt to keep it from becoming a fear.

Think about the problems in your life. There are concerns brought on by events happening around us. Someone at work may have worries that you pick up. People often complain about their bosses and other aspects of their jobs. As Christians, we need to pray about these things and ask Jesus to remove from us these fears brought by Satan. Getting rid of these fears should reduce our anger.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

A, B, Cs of Medicare

November 10, 2025

I’ve been on Medicare for six years now and have gone through the annual enrollment period many times. If you have listened to the commercials that are aimed at, we Baby Boomers, as we reach sixty-five, you know that everyone gets parts A and B automatically. You’d have to live without broadcast television not to have heard this.

My first couple of years were good with a company that seemed perfect for my Cox Hospital care and their doctors. Then Cox was able to formulate their own Medicare insurance plans, and my insurer no longer covered my established providers. Thanks Cox.

I had considered another insurance, but they did not have my doctors in their network, and I did not want to start over again. Aetna looked to be the best for my needs, and I kept them this year. Since January one procedure after another has been listed out of network even though my established clinics were accepted.

I’ve tried all year to have tests and procedures performed at approved facilities by in network providers only to be billed out of network charges. Aetna owns CVS Pharmacies, and they constantly want me to use them even though they refuse to give us the service that they should.

My wife and I are using a local Medicare approved representative to help us determine the best insurer for our specific needs. These include the medications we take, and doctors we want to be treated by. I’ll let you know how this works out.

We are hesitant to call any of the companies that advertise or send us propaganda in the mail or online because we all know that these companies may work for certain insurance or pharmaceutical companies and may have biases to their clients.

By the way, you might want to check out all the current legal actions against any insurers you may be considering because some of the major companies are being sued by current or former clients for refusing to cover services for some that they cover for others. I won’t mention those names to you because there may be some more, I have not heard about. We will be checking the ones recommended to us for these problems. I’ve looked up the current actions now and know my present company is having problems.

Good luck to all of you on Medicare or approaching that age and use all the resources provided by Medicare.gov and watch out for those that have other websites listed. They may be legitimate or not. There are reports of Medicare scams.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Living with God

November 8, 2025

Taking time to think about where you live is a pastime many of us have. We worry if our homes are as expensive, beautiful, or happy as our neighbors, friends, and family. That is our concern. God’s is expressed by King David in Psalm 15.

“A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who lives in your tabernacle? Who stays on your holy hill? He who is walking upright and doing what is righteous, who speaks the truth in his heart. He has not spoken disrespectfully. He has not done evil to his neighbor and he has not criticized his neighbor. He has despised with his eyes the one that God has rejected and honors those who respect Jehovah. He has agreed to suffering and does not change his mind. He has cheated no one and does not take a bribe against the innocent. The one who is doing these things will never be moved.” (Ps 15:1-5).

Remember that when these words were written the Temple of Solomon had not been constructed. The presence of Jehovah was thought to inhabit the Tabernacle that had been created during Moses’ time. More specifically, He inhabited the Ark of the Covenant.

Walking upright and being righteous are ways of stating that this person obeys Yahweh. They also speak the truth that they have hidden in their inner most being. Jesus said in John chapter fourteen that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They also do not speak disrespectfully. I think this means about God.

There are many kinds of evil that we can do to our neighbors. I’m not just talking about the ones that live next to you. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to explain what God meant by loving our neighbors as ourselves. In that story a Jew had been attacked on a road. A Priest and a Levite had both avoided the injured man.

Samaritans were hated by the Jews. Why would one of them stop to help? They understood the law better than the Hebrew officials. Do you ever feel that Christians do not know their Bible as well as they should? I do and that is the reason why I call myself a born-again believer.

The actual place where Yahweh lives is what we call Heaven. It is outside of space and time. God created those after He existed. Remember Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.” He was already abiding in His home that we call heaven. The heavens are what we see in the sky both during the day and the night.

The one who resides with Jehovah honors those who respect Him and disrespects those who reject Him. Not cheating others or taking bribes are honorable things as well. However, agreeing with suffering seems extreme. Most of us do not want to suffer for Christ even if He suffered for us.

Believing that we will live with our savior and His Father after we die is considered “pie in the sky by and by” according to some. I am sure that they would call me deranged to say that we are there right now and will only realize it when our bodies cease to function. That’s what I call living.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Living history

November 6, 2025

When you have three or four decades under your belt, you start to notice what history is for your children and later your grandchildren are things that you remember firsthand. Mom and Dad knew about World War II as actual events that they experienced both here in the Springfield, Missouri area and for Dad also in the South Pacific with the Navy. As Christians, our lives are lived by what we learn from history in the Bible, but also from life as it is experienced.

In 1972, on September 17th, a freshman at Southwest Missouri State University experienced a historical event that did not seem like such at the time. The CBS TV series MASH premiered. This program portrayed events that were historical in a dramatic and comedic way for those, like Mom and Dad, who had lived through the period, and their children who had not.

An interesting thing about MASH is that it lasted eight years longer than the war it portrayed.  Since it was only once a week, that fact was never noticed. In the reruns today it is much more noticeable. At the time, the MASH series finale was an epic event. In 1972 when the first episode aired, nobody knew what to expect. The original movie was alright, but the series surpassed it.

In July of 1969, we watched the moon landing and the walk. I was six when the first astronaut took his ride and followed the other five on the Mercury ships. Then the Gemini crafts were launched. Apollo was next, and the catastrophe of Apollo One catching fire and killing Roger Chafee, Ed White, and Gus Grissom seemed to delay or stop that.

It delayed the launches, but it did not end them. In 1967, the first manned Apollo mission was called Apollo 7. Eight took three men around the moon and nine stayed in Earth orbit to test the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). Ten went back to orbit the moon and tested the docking of the lander in moon orbit. The first landing possibility was Eleven.  

This is not mentioned by most commentators, but Neal Armstrong could have aborted the LEM setting down. During those last few moments before setting down on the surface as the commander, he had to make the decision whether he should attempt to risk the mission with a failed landing. The fuel in the LEM was at the point he had to abort or land. That is what makes a legendary pilot.

You may be asking, “How does he know these things?” I was a space nut through the sixties and the seventies. If it was published about NASA or the Astronauts, I read it. I was in front of the TV for every launch and live broadcast with Uncle Walter. You do not know Uncle Walter? Walter Cronkite was the CBS news anchor for most of my life. We only received NBC and CBS until the early 1970s.

Despite not having the internet, cell phones, satellite TV, or all the miracles of this age, we lived history. We witnessed all these things unfold before our eyes through the miracle of television, and we had real cats and dogs, without having to watch YouTube videos to see what was happening in our world.

We also watched in horror as the twin towers in New York City crashed to the ground, and our president had the guts to send troops to find the mastermind of that attack. In spite of all of that tragedy, he never once invaded American cities to make himself look good. He actually did something constructive without shutting down our government..

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Nobody

November 4, 2025

Once again, Jesus brought this Casting Crowns song to my attention. He does this often. When I am down and need something to bring me back to what my ministry is, He sends His personal message to me. It is never a verbal word from Him. If I stop and listen, I know what He has done. Let me tell you about this time.

It starts out with the question of why God chose me. Do you ever ask yourself why you felt a desire to accept Christ when others easily refuse? I accepted Him when I was a kid. In college, I rejected the Church I attended, not God. He then asked me to accept a call to His ministry. I still do not understand that.

I never thought of myself as one of the not-quites or worthless individuals, as some do. I knew what I wanted to do. I once thought I might be a good candidate for President of the US. I thought that after a few years as a reporter, I might want to try my hand at politics.

Like the writer of this song, I can relate to Moses’ apprehension at being a leader and how David felt when he stepped up and accepted the call to fight Goliath. He was young and already believed that he could do anything he was asked to do. It took me a few more years to get there, but I think I may be close.

David did, in fact, take rocks to a sword fight. Yes, I said rocks. Reread the story, and you will see that after he shed Saul’s armor and sword, he took up his shepherd’s pouch, staff, and sling. He stopped and selected five stones that he placed in the bag. Some wonder why others have said that his opponent had four brothers. Only one was a brother. The other three were cousins. He was prepared.

I am beginning to see who He wants me to be. I minister to those I worked with and around for over forty years. I’ve worked with multiple groups in churches and other ministries. Now you are my congregation. I hope I can come across as loving and understanding as Jesus did.

That’s what He tried to teach His followers. He showed love to everyone, even those who opposed Him. He did not stop there. He died for all of us. Even those who wanted Him dead forced the Romans to execute Him.

I know I will not go down in history. All I can ask for is what the chorus of this song says. I just want to tell you what I know about my Lord and Savior. I am not important in any way other than as a witness to what a life of service can mean. I hope that you want to be a nobody like I am.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger