Where are you in relationship to Jesus? If you drew a diagram, where would you be? Beside him? Behind him? There was a soldier who placed himself under Jesus’ authority. Though not a follower of Jesus, he understood power and authority; superior and...
Boasting in God isn’t pounding a drum on the issues of the day. It’s not parroting religious talking points. Boasting in God comes naturally as a climax to working God’s program and finding God to be a creative genius. That’s what Paul means when he says,...
“Fire” is what the eye witnesses said. Before the fire, they looked to Jesus for everything. After the fire, they were partners in telling God’s deeds of power; in accomplishing God’s works of power. They were “of fire.” Fire makes all the difference. Not...
The Apostle Paul had a disturbing way of following Jesus. There was that time he broke the labor laws of his day and stopped the exploitation of an enslaved girl. There was that time he sang and prayed his way out of jail, stopped his former jailer from...
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost...
There’s a proportional relationship between the size of the God that lives in our imagination and the size of the Pharaohs we defy! Small idea of God… small resolve to defy even the smallest of pharaohs. Big imagining of God… great resolve to defy even...
Not exactly sure when I learned the words of the 23rd Psalm. I do know that my wife and I were careful to teach it to our children. I know as life has grown and become more complex, the words “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I...
If Peter got a second chance on that first Easter morning, so can we. So have we! This is the Easter message: You are more than your worst day… so is the individual or group of people you struggle to love. You are more than the pain you have suffered or caused....
What do you mean when you say that you’re a Christian? Do you mean more than a system of moral teaching? Do you mean more than a building you visit regularly or irregularly? Or, do you mean you’ve experienced a transfer of power from a garbage dump outside of...
Easter has a pattern. It begins in darkness almost at the point of despair. That’s when God shows up. That’s when God opens what is shut and un-openable. Then comes the part where we partner with God just like the women at the tomb. God rolled the stone away...
