“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps.103:8). Imagine that your nose was as long as your arm. You would have to move slowly and carefully so as not to bump into people with your nose. You’d being saying, “Oh, sorry I bumped into you with my nose.”…
I’m remembering church picnics. It’s summer nostalgia, of course. The wind in the trees outside my window and the sound of kids playing. I’m leaving church after the service and thinking about watermelon, remembering the tote bag my mom put the thermos in and the way she folded a travelling rug on top and the…
Small town events are big excitement for kids. Somewhere around age 12 I remember eagerly anticipating an upcoming parade with my then bestie, Lee. Lee was a fun-loving, kind-hearted friend. So, when she announced that she was personally going to participate in the parade, I was genuinely excited with her. She would be a baton-twirler,…
A city and tow’r, whose top may reach Heaven;And get themselves a name, lest far dispersedIn foreign lands their memory be lostUpon their tongues a various spirit to razeQuite out of their native language, and insteadTo sow a jangling noise of words unknown:Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loudAmong the builders; each to other callsNot understood,…
“He has shown strength with his arm;/ he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts./ He has brought down the powerful from their thrones/ and lifted up the lowly./ He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1: 51-53 I’m writing this column the day…
The Westminster Catechism opens with “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Is it? In church a few weeks ago, we sang the Chris Tomlin song “Better is One Day,” with the refrain “better is one day in your house than thousands elsewhere.”…
In the preface of God Who Became Bread, Emily Wierenga writes, “I pray you’ll become glutted on God’s goodness, then turn and feed this living Bread to a very hungry world.” This is precisely what God Who Became Bread, accomplishes. The book transforms the concept of living Bread into something tangible, igniting a passion for…
I saw it again; a pastor said God told him his congregation would give him millions of dollars. I heard that a presidential candidate was saved by God’s hand from the assassin’s bullet, with no mention of the retired firefighter killed by the bullet. Was that by God’s hand? I remember an older colleague telling…
Norton and I wander down the path through the cornfield. Tall, lush plants wall us in. Tropical conditions this summer have been ideal for corn. It could be a bumper crop. Or it could be a repeat of 1992. Similar weather that year produced an incredible stand. Then relentless autumn rains ruined the entire crop…
The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15 He used to carry me. My father with the scratchy beard and the loud laugh, the kind that threw his head way back. He would carry me as he walked barefoot in Africa. I would…
“I think the significance of the leap year,” scientist Alexander Boxer, speaking on the U.S.’s National Public Radio, said, “is that it’s a great reminder that the universe is really good at defying our attempts to devise nice and pretty and aesthetically pleasing systems to fit it in.” When I heard this, I immediately substituted…
Last month I recounted my youthful discovery of the discipline of daily prayer, also known as the daily office. According to this pattern, whose origins almost certainly extend back to God’s people of the old covenant, the entire day is divided up into approximately three-hour intervals punctuated by the several prayer offices. The number varies…
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