I recently had a conversation with a friend who told me about a time in her life when a middle school boy ridiculed her ears. Up until that moment, she had never once felt bad about her ears but now, decades later, she still despised her ears and was self-conscious about them. This demonstrates the... Continue Reading →

When I look at my own life, my prayer is that I will become a child of light. A child of light rejects its former life that was marked by darkness and revels in all that is good and right and true. They spend their days trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.... Continue Reading →

Pharisees are all around us in every aspect of society. It is one of our cultures most seductive tendencies - to puff ourselves up by letting everyone else know how righteous we are and how lacking everyone else is. It is seductive because all we have to do is to tick a few boxes of... Continue Reading →

Can I give you something else to read? Can I give you something else to scroll through? Can I give you something else to like and follow and share and tweet?  Haven’t you got enough of the destruction of our times and the destruction of your own heart?  What if I showed you a story... Continue Reading →

The loss and sadness that I have experienced could bring one of two things.  One, I could, as Henri Nouwen says, “become accustomed to living with sadness” and let it define my future. Or, I could recognize the great goodness that has always been open to me in God’s kingdom.  Being accustomed to living with... Continue Reading →

When I was in 7th grade my life science teacher got a scientific thing completely wrong.  This was the height of the AIDS hysteria of the 1980s. AIDS, or more accurately HIV, was all over the news because of its deadly nature and horrible symptoms. My science teacher told the class that we could catch... Continue Reading →

This world is our laboratory for Christian living. Though our future is assured in heaven, our present is in this context full of hatred, violence, loss, grief, betrayal, backstabbing, lies, idiocy, destruction, and self-centerdness. God intends for us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling here in the muck of human existence. If... Continue Reading →

After my disappointment and frustration expressed in last week’s post, I knew I couldn’t wallow in my sadness and I needed to find a way forward with God’s help. Even though I was mad at God, I still knew that he held the answers that I needed. I echoed Peter’s words, “Where else can we... Continue Reading →

I couldn’t pray much yesterday. I meditated and repeated one of my favorite promises about God but I couldn’t bring myself to ask God for anything.  I did ask Him to let me be a blessing to someone when I went to the grocery store but I found myself more irritated with everyone there than... Continue Reading →

Growing up, one of the things my dad always reminded me was to be coachable. He wanted me to listen to instruction, to not be hard headed or uncooperative, and to be humble enough to make changes even if they are difficult. Lately, I have wondered if I was being coachable in my Christian spiritual... Continue Reading →