Early on in His earthly ministry, Jesus delivered one of His most well-known and compelling “sermons.” In the middle of this great discourse, He took up the topic of prayer. Jesus taught the large crowd who had gathered below him on a Galilean mountainside not to try to impress others with their eloquent prayers (Matthew [...]
It has been nearly 25 years since the phone rang bringing us the terrible news that my younger cousin Jacob had been badly hurt. He had been playing with some neighbor kids and in a freak accident a guttering spike had been driven 6 inches into his brain. It entered between his eyeball and the [...]
Don’t you just hate it when you’re trying to communicate with someone and they don’t even bother to answer you? Even if it’s a text, an email, or a Facebook post, some response is better than flat-out silence. But it’s especially annoying when you know they heard you but are refusing to answer you. Now [...]
What images come to mind when you think about prayer? The variety of images that shape our ideas about prayer can be as distinctive and varied as the uniqueness of each individual’s back story. Images may vary from table prayers and bedside traditions to cathedrals, temples, churches, and mosques with minarets to prayer shawls, prayer [...]
One of the great gifts my father gave to me was the ability to tell stories. One of my preferred pastimes as a boy was to sit and listen to Dad tell stories about his childhood. One of my favorite involved my grandmother and her prayer closet. Dad, according to his recollection, was about 10 [...]
No one in the crowd near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon could have predicted the horrible bombings that took place last week. At first, the explosions sent people scattering and ducking for cover. But almost as quickly as it happened, people started rushing back to the sight of the explosions to help [...]
If last Monday’s events at the Boston Marathon reminded us of anything—it’s that we’re all susceptible to some form of attack or injury, be it physical, financial, emotional, relational, or spiritual. We all suffer wounds as we navigate through life. To be vulnerable means we are susceptible. The Latin root for the word vulnerable is [...]
Some losses are unthinkable. As a parent, there is nothing more devastating than the thought of losing one of my children. Just thinking of it feels unbearable. But the aching reality is that millions of parents face that overwhelming loss every year. According to Wikipedia, 6.9 million children died worldwide before the age of 5 in [...]
Having just come through the Easter holiday, I spent some time rereading Matthew’s account of Jesus’ last days on earth (Matt. 26–28). I started in chapter 26 with the religious leadership plotting to kill Him, and then read about His anointing at Bethany; His betrayal by Judas; His last Passover celebration with His disciples; His [...]
Earlier this month the Discovery Channel began airing the mini-series simply titled The Bible. Even though reviews have been lukewarm, the series has become a big hit with viewers. To the surprise of some, it’s been the most watched Sunday night show on television. It’s estimated that over 68 million viewers have tuned in since [...]
In the spring, shepherds in Idaho move their flocks from the lowlands into the mountains. Thousands of sheep move up the passes into the high country to summer pasture.
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