MSI Press Blog

  Hm...Aren't sheep wimps? The short answer: no. The psalmist would not have heard “sheep” as weak, passive, or foolish. In the ancient Near Eastern world, “sheep” carried an entirely different emotional weight—one that is sturdy, earthy, and deeply relational. 🐑 What “sheep” meant to the psalmist 1. Sheep were valuable, not contemptible A family’s wealth was measured in flocks. Sheep were food, clothing, sacrifice, and livelihood. To call someone “sheep” was to say: You are treasured. You are the livelihood of the Shepherd. There is no insult in that. 2. Sheep were vulnerable, but not pathetic In the biblical imagination, vulnerability is not shameful—it is simply true . Sheep need guidance because the world is dangerous: cliffs, predators, drought, thieves. To be a sheep is to be a creature who cannot survive without the shepherd’s presence. That is not wimpy; it is honest. 3. Sheep were responsive, not mindless Ancient shepherding was not cattle-driving. Sheep were led by voi...

I used to think bone loss was something that happened to other people — the ones who didn’t train, who sat too long, who gave up on movement. Then one day my dentist looked at an X‑ray and said, “You’ve lost a tooth because the bone dissolved.” That got my attention. Turns out my bones weren’t just aging; they were reacting to my medication. Omeprazole — the little pill that keeps my reflux quiet — was quietly stealing calcium from my skeleton. The irony was rich: I could eat without pain, but my bones were paying the price. I started out with the standard dose: 40 mg twice a day. For months, it worked beautifully for my stomach and apparently terribly for my jaw. When the dentist finally connected the dots, my GI doctor cut it down to 20 mg once a day — a maintenance dose. I added discipline, timing, and gravity to the mix: no food after sundown, no lying flat after meals, and plenty of calisthenics early in the day (a good time to get over any bed behavior before sundown and accounta...