A pastor friend embarked on preaching through the entire book of Matthew. Usually, he handles a chapter at a time, hinting at over half a year just on this one admittedly fine book of 28 chapters. But one day he examined only six verses of chapter six, covering just one topic in the Sermon on the Mount, composed of chapters five through seven. I hopped on a rabbit trail, wondering…
Read MoreLike...
I like metaphors, a comparison that helps us understand something we may not yet fully know with something we already know something about. And although I’ve followed God for 52 years, many aspects of him remain hazy, uncertain, even unknowable. But what’s around us can give us some hints, like…
Read MoreSpiritual Anemia--a Fix
A fellow teacher who struggles with anemia posted this on Facebook, “Why am I so exhausted after only teaching two days? Oh boy.” I understand; I taught also. But a more significant anemia is the spiritual one that so infects American Christianity. We lack energy and motivation for the things of God. We care, but not deeply. We serve, but not joyfully. We give, but not sacrificially.
The antidote may be found in a…
Read MoreKeeping Commitments
Anymore, seems like we hesitate to trust others. Crime and road rage rise: can we trust others to be faithful to the laws? Marriages end too often: can we trust our spouses to remain faithful? People break their word: can we trust them to be faithful to their promises? Pastors and members switch…
Read MoreA Well-Traveled Leaf
A month back, Sheila and I drove twenty miles north to Canyon Lake to look at a living room bench—kind of a flat white church pew. A few miles up the freeway, I noticed a liquid amber leaf from the tree next to where we park our F150 was stuck on the windshield wiper arm. That leaf stayed on the entire trip up and back, at speeds up to 75 mph. AND, the wiper arm still holds it, with several other trips in between. That’s one tough leaf to take such a beatin’ and keep on truckin’. Feel like you’re taking a beating from life? A job, a spouse, a church, a friend? Let…
Read MoreA Balancing Act
Some time back I intentionally opened my Bible to Psalms, and randomly to 86. As a poet (no poems today, sorry!) I appreciated the variety of structures that enhanced the meaning. But verse 11 touched my soul, “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name,” because it gave three requirements of connecting to God and the result. All touch on…
Read MorePages Turning
Looking ahead, my spiritual vision is maybe 20/400. But looking back, it may approach 20/40. Maybe you’ve experienced the same—the past has more clarity than the future. Looking back, I see my bad decisions, my good ones. The times that God has gently nudged me in ways I didn’t comprehend until later. The times he took a figurative 2 x 4 to me. We can all benefit from looking back to gain a better insight into…
Read MoreIntegrity
Early last December, when fall still held sway, a strong wind stripped our trees of many of their leaves. A sixty-foot liquid amber, a broad fruitless pear, and a neighbor’s trees all contributed to the mass of leaves covering the ground cover on our south slope and driveway. Wanting to avoid the debris from choking out our ice plant and from drifting onto our neighbors’ yards, I grabbed my leaf blower to blow them off the slope and pushed them into a pile…
Read More