Read: Matthew 10:34-36 & Luke 2:13-14 At the end of a year marked by war, when people have swung swords at each other, I've discovered something (surprising) about division in Scripture: It isn't a political party or mask mandate that ultimately divides people. It’s Jesus and his salvation. “Do not think I have come to … Continue reading Jesus With A Sword
When Jesus says, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning” in Luke 12:35, I get two images from Tolkien’s The Return of the King. The first is of Minas Tirith— a stone fortress towering against the enemy realm of Mordor. I see Pippin the hobbit bumping between soldiers who are rushing to find … Continue reading Part Three: Belonging in a Kingdom
Read: Isaiah 9:2 & Luke 12:35-48 I stood partly in the rain at dusk tonight, a candle cradled in one hand, my phone in the other. The sky was cold and against it, the fire let off a Narnian glow. I snapped a few pictures but seconds later, a wind gust and raindrop snuffed out … Continue reading Hope is Not a Candle
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16). As my church crawled out of quarantine, blinking in the May daylight, I had a run-in with … Continue reading Part Two: Belonging to a Person & People
October 11 These days, we need something worth rejoicing in that won't come down with COVID or lose an election or go out of style. We need something chiseled in stone that, when the world starts dissolving, we can stand on and say, "This will never die or lose or fade!" I've always pictured the … Continue reading The Book of Stone
September 13 I sometimes forget what it was like to go into Aldi without a mask, or to hug people and shake their hands and not apologize. I sometimes feel like the pandemic always was, is, and will be. But the only One to ever wear that title is Jesus. “I am the Alpha and … Continue reading Yesterday and Today and Forever
August 23 We were made for another world and until Jesus returns, we can’t help but ache for it. C.S. Lewis called that longing sehnsucht (and I write a lot about it). But there’s another part of us that longs for this world, and it’s why James had to write: What causes quarrels and what … Continue reading The Opposite of Sehnsucht
Have you ever tried to fit some of the ocean into your hand? How about all of it? Can you measure the sky in miles? Can you weigh the Rocky Mountains? Could you even put the Ozark hills on a scale? Do you tell God’s Spirit where to go or what to do? Does God … Continue reading I’m Glad I Can’t Hold the Ocean
Good writers are good pruners. They know when to pick up the shears and how much to chop. William Zinsser taught me that. “Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine every word you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? …Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging onto … Continue reading On Writing, Weeding, and Walking in the Light
August 2 Before he was betrayed and driven to the cross, Jesus spent time praying for you. “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” “Holy Father, keep them in your name…” “While I was with them, I kept … Continue reading Be Encouraged: You Are Kept
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