Some may come to faith in God and to love, without a conscious attachment to Jesus. Both Nature and good men besides Jesus may lead us to God. They who seek God with all their hearts must, however, some day on their way meet Jesus. ~ Heinrich Weinel, Jesus in the Nineteenth Century and…
Giving Thanks in the Small Things
Some days I pick up a camera and it’s a hammer. The lens is my ink, for cameras have sensor eyes, and pixels record. I slide it into a pocket, a thin point-and-shoot, and find another way to chronicle, to force the lids open; another way to receive the moment with thanks reverential. When he comes in from…
How to Lose Control and Keep the Faith
Cue the Queen Esther is the scriptural role model for how to control what you should and trust God with what you can’t. And, more importantly, how to decide which is which! Esther was a stunningly beautiful Jewish orphan who became the replacement for Queen Vashti, the wife of King Xerxes. She had a…
It’s Never Too Late for God to Redeem
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. — Ephesians 1:7-8 NIV I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you,…
Wild at Heart: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, on-line, microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul. Where, finally,…
Paradise in a Garbage Dump
Jesus wasn’t drawn to the people whose lives were perfectly put together. (Actually, those people never existed.) Jesus was drawn to people whose lives weren’t all together. People just like us. In fact, some of the people He interacted with were a real mess. Think about the story of the thief on the cross.…
A Dad Who Really Makes a Difference
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child. — Proverbs 22:15 “Yes, I love you, and no, you can’t have your own way.” When my dad was two years old, the youngest of four children, his father abandoned the family. My dad’s single mom did they best she could, but they were extremely…
When Judgment Gets in the Way
Caught in the Act Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before…
You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone
I broaden the path beneath you so that your ankles do not turn. This shows how intricately I am involved in your life-journey. I know exactly what is before you, and I can alter the path ahead of you to make your way easier. Sometimes I enable you to see what I have done on…
Old Lies, New Truth
If we are going to demolish our strongholds, we have to recognize the power that lies have over us. Are you also a prisoner, missing out on the life you want but believe you can never have? You crave close relationships but are paralyzed by the fear of rejection. You want to try something…