Author Archives: Bill Boylan

Happy Second Anniversary! Each September’s issue of The Traveler is devoted to reviewing the previous 12 months of The Traveler . . . and personal events in our lives.  The Traveler is usually only three pages in length; each September, it is four pages.  We began publishing The Traveler two years ago in September 2009.  At first, we planned to provide it by e-mailContinue reading “September 2011: Anniversary Issue”

I usually ask God about six months ahead of its “publication” date what He wants me to write in The Traveler that you will read six months later.  When He informs me what He wants me to write, then I start studying the Bible, praying about it, and writing that issue.  For example, I began writing this issueContinue reading “August 2011: Three Essential Qualities”

 Provi-dence n. the care or benevolent guidance of God over the universe, earth, humanity, and individual humans.  No, this issue of The Traveler will not be a travelogue about a city in Rhode Island named Providence. But it will be a travelogue…of sorts. A travelogue about your journey through this mortal life. A notable theologianContinue reading “July 2011: Providence and The Master Potter”

The Travailer No, I didn’t spell “traveler” incorrectly.  The word “travel” comes from an old English word “”travail,” meaning “very hard labor and toil.”  “Travail” comes from a Latin word tripalium,” meaning “three stakes used as an instrument of torture.”  Kind of an interesting study of word origins, huh?  Where am I going with this?  I’m glad you asked.  With our modern cars, ships, and airplanesContinue reading “June 2011: Travel . . . Travail”

Continued from last month Every wilderness experience Holy  Spirit leads us into is custom-tailored by God for each of us so we can humble ourselves, learn from the experience, be tested, cleansed, and “broken.”  Then and only then can the Master Potter re-form, re-mold, re-shape, and re-store us more and more into the image of Jesus,Continue reading “May 2011: The Wilderness #2”

Wilderness: n.  A dry, hot place;   a wild, isolated, barren, place;  an obscure or unknown place; a deserted, desolate place. The English word, “wilderness,” appears over 300 times in the Bible, making it an important subject simply by the large number of references.  Bible scholars and teachers often focus on the “wilderness experience” of Jesus (Luke 4:Continue reading “April 2011: The Wilderness #1”

Continued from last month NOTE: In classes, seminars, workshops, and study groups I teach, I continually remind my students not to take my word for something as being final, to challenge me, to point out where they feel I’ve made a mistake, to ask questions…  I constantly tell them I don’t have a corner on truth—that allContinue reading “March 2011: Faith #2”

Traveler: n.  a person who journeys from one place to another.  “Each of us is a traveler through this life, then through the eons of time and beyond—into our final, eternal state of being.  We’re all pilgrims on a journey through this life…to the next life…and beyond.  Yes, we’re all journeying through this life from conception to death,Continue reading “February 2011: Faith #1”

You do realize, don’t you, that among our thousands of regular readers–and visitors to this website–some will die this year, in 2011? Could YOU be one of them? The question is not “Are you prepared to die?” The question is “Are you prepared to live–really live–during your journey?” If Jesus is Immanuel–God full present withContinue reading “January 2011: Living Toward Death; Prayer of Jabez”

I know! I know! To be “politically correct” here in USAmerica, we’re not supposed to greet people with “Merry Christmas” these days. The word “Christ” seems to offend a lot of people. But…I’m saying it anyhow: “Merry Christmas!” So there… Let the political correctness police come and arrest me! Slowly but surely Christmas is beingContinue reading “December 2010: Merry Christmas”