When asked, “How are you doing?” most of us reflexively say “fine.” Problem is, rarely does that describe how we’re actually doing or feeling. That’s why I love the Psalms so much, they are emotionally honest. These spiritual poets lead us into an authentic...
St. Paul wants us to, “make the most of the time….” He has some suggestions about how to do that. First, what not to do: don’t be foolish, don’t look for your answers or your healing at the bottom of a bottle or in any excesses for that matter. The lift you need, the...
Peter takes a moment to look back. His looking back takes him to the time he looked up and was changed. He was changed when he saw Jesus’ radiance and heard a voice that comforted and challenged him. Peter was an “eyewitness to God’s majesty.”...
“You are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” A beautiful fact is on display in this simple sentence. Just as the disciples were with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, so Jesus has been with us from our beginning. God in God’s genius...
Faith is keeping your head up even when you’re standing in a valley. Faith is looking beyond the hills that try to intimidate you. Faith is the lens we look through to understand God’s text messages to us. Faith is knowing God is real, able, good and generous. Faith...
Most folks have a God story. Most are reluctant to tell theirs for fear of seeming weak-minded or childish. Yet, we have them. The Resurrection of Jesus is a God story. It will never be more than that. It will always shake hands with doubt. Still, that God did the...
He lost all his wealth. His children were murdered. His marriage was broken. His friends were enemies. In a desolate season of life Job said, “I know my Redeemer lives….” It would have been easier for him to say: “I’m suffering. All I know is...
“Somehow Isaiah hears God pose a two-part question. ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ In that moment, Isaiah consents to a partnership with God. A partnership that has always been available to him. But now, because grief and grace have conspired in a...
Faith is many things, but at its base, it’s consent. And, consent is agreement and actualization. It’s more impactful to understand faith in this way than faith being simply intellectual assent to the likelihood of God’s existence or denominational affiliation....
“The concern which I lay bare before You today is: Whatever disaffection there is between me and those who are or have been very close to me— I would seek the root or cause of such disaffection, and with the illumination of Your mind, O God, to understand it. I give...
