Faith
Anticipation
Anticipation. That is the title to a 70’s song by Carly Simon. Just a few lines of the lyrics say, “We can never know about the days to come, But we think about them anyway.” It’s a secular perspective on life. Every person who walks on this planet could identify with those lyrics. But as…
Read MoreFree!
Free! In some ways, the word “free” has got a bad rap. “Free” often accompanies some slick advertising campaign. “Just sign up and you’ll get this free book, magazine, or product.” The problem is that the free thing never lives up to the hype. It’s a free book that you’d never read. It’s a magazine…
Read MoreInnocence
I was out walking with my family today. They brought their 4-month-old Golden Retriever with them. Fun day. One of the things making it so enjoyable was watching this puppy chase a butterfly. It was hilarious. He’d go everywhere the butterfly went and would twist and contort trying to reach it. It never did happen.…
Read MoreHow Not To Die
I have a book on my desk that I’ve borrowed from my son and daughter-in-law. It’s called “How Not To Die.” Interesting title right? Actually, it’s a book about food. Food that’s good for you and some food…not so much. I got to thinking…” that might not be a bad title for the Bible.” John…
Read MoreBlind Arrogance
One of the biggest mistakes we all make is what I’ll call blind arrogance. What I mean by that is simple. It’s false confidence. We believe that we know the future and in some ways, think we can control it. For all intents and purposes, the pandemic has brought most of us back to reality.…
Read MoreSpeak up and stand up
Perhaps you’ve seen is the poetic form of a confessional by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). There are different versions, but this is the most common one: First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and…
Read MoreThe mystery of grace
Grace may be the hardest concept, thought, idea, teaching, or doctrine found in the pages of the Scriptures. It’s found from beginning to end. Those much smarter than I have written volumes on the definition, examples, and life applications wrapped around “grace.” Here’s a quote from Anne Lamott found in Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts of…
Read MoreKicking the bucket
Nobody talks about it, but it’s firmly planted in the back of everyone’s mind. In fact, if you want to kill the conversation at a dinner party, just bring up the subject. It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. However, I’ve often thought that strange. For something that is absolutely, 100 percent inevitable to every human being, every…
Read MoreZombies?
It used to be hard to talk to someone about the reality of the resurrection. Someone who was thoroughly dead being brought back to life. But maybe not so much anymore. My wife teaches the little kiddos in Sunday school. She was explaining the resurrection of Jesus to the kids. Knowing my wife, she was…
Read MoreRoad less traveled
In elementary school, we had a section of my English class that was devoted to the “classics”, especially poetry. One of those “classics” was a poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Not Taken”.It begins, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both.” It ends, “I took the one…
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