It’s getting close to the new year as I write now. It’s as good a time as ever to look back, take stock, sit with Jesus, and ask where He’d like me to grow, to focus, or to challenge myself in this next season of my life. It’s good for us all to...
READ MOREBy the grace of God, we cannot quite pull it off. In the quiet moments of the day we sense a nagging within, a discontentment, a hunger for something else. But because we have not solved the riddle of our existence, we assume that something is...
READ MOREThe thought of me being called out of hiding is unnerving. I don't think I want to be seen. Many years ago, during my life in the theater, I received a standing ovation for a performance. The audience was literally on its feet, cheering...
READ MOREThe madness about grief is you think you’ll feel better in a few days. Certainly in a few weeks. The average bereavement leave in corporate America is four days for a spouse or child and three days for a parent. Three days. That’s complete...
READ MOREOur acts of remembering must therefore involve both essential truths and dramatic narrative. I believe we need to hold the creeds in one hand and our favorite forms of art in the other. There are films, books, poems, songs, and paintings I return...
READ MOREIf joy is a fruit of the Spirit (and it is), then we are meant to experience and enjoy it, regardless of our circumstances. Whatever may be swirling around us, the eye of the storm is joy. But how do we get there? The simple answer is we need to...
READ MOREThe incarnation is one of the greatest treasures of our faith. The world keeps pushing God away, feeling more comfortable with him up in the heavens somewhere. But in the coming of Jesus he draws near. Incredibly near. He takes on our humanity....
READ MOREBefore we go any farther in our search, I need to make the offer of Christianity clear: There is a way to be good again. The hope of Christianity is that we get to live life like Jesus. That beautiful goodness can be ours. He can heal what has...
READ MORE"Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will be with child ..." (Luke 1:30)
No matter how troubled Mary was, her heart had been cultivated by faith, and she responded to the news with composure, dignity, and faith. She...
READ MOREWe value independence. Mobility. Self-sufficiency. Yay. But we are a dependent people. Dependent on air, food, water. Needful of others. Needful of God. He is our divine helper, our ezer, without whom we will not be able to live a life...
READ MOREWe’re going to want our souls strong and ready for the days ahead, filled with God, not fried and empty. So we must practice soul care.
I’m not suggesting you go on a witch hunt for every neglected place in your soul. There’s way too much...
READ MOREI was thumbing through a Williams-Sonoma catalog. It calls itself "a catalog for cooks," but really, it's a catalog of the life we wish we had. Everything is beautiful, delicious, elegant. The kitchens portrayed are immaculate—there are no messes...
READ MOREAs we near the end of this year, we're all a little beat up. 2020 was a kind of shaking and spiritual "sifting." The world was shaken; we were all shaken and sifted, and it revealed where our hopes and security were actually placed.
And in...
READ MOREI have in my files a copy of a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou, a Union officer in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. He writes to his wife on the eve of the Battle of Bull Run, a battle he senses will be his last. He speaks tenderly...
READ MOREThe Evil One lied to us about where true life was found...and we believed him.
God gave us the wondrous world as our playground, and he told us to enjoy it fully and freely. Yet despite his extravagant generosity, we had to reach for the...
READ MOREI was reading the prophet Jeremiah a few weeks ago when I ran across a passage that referred to God as "the Lord Almighty." To be honest, it didn't resonate. There's something too religious about the phrase; it sounds churchy, sanctimonious. The...
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