Once, not so long ago for God I suppose, He did a very strange thing. On an ordinary day, the Lord, the Son of God, prepared to take His leave of heaven. I cannot say what the weather was like the day He left, but it must have been as still and noiseless as a…
It is not inconsequential that two of the most important characters in the Advent story are women. While on some levels it may be true that women are the weaker sex, it is also absolutely true that if men were responsible for birthing babies, there’d be a lot fewer people in the world. The courage…
When I think about Advent, I am always struck by the ‘humanity’ of it all. The very idea that God would send his son to take on a cloak of humanity in order that lost mankind might be redeemed and restored in their relationship with our God? That seems like such an ‘unhuman’ thing for…
When I was growing up, in our family we didn’t really say much about Advent as a season. We talked about Christmas, of course. But having an Advent calendar, or lighting an Advent Candle at our church on Sundays wasn’t something I was familiar with until I was grown. But I have come to appreciate…
I love Thanksgiving. I always have. I remember growing up that Thanksgiving day was different from any other day of the year. On most Thanksgivings, the air in our neighborhood hung heavy with the smell of roasting turkey coming from almost every house. But roasting turkey wasn’t the only smell. In our neighborhood, Thanksgiving Day…
I love Thanksgiving. My memories of Thanksgiving dinners at home are treasured ones, but one particular celebration when I was a little boy stands out from all the rest. Moments after the, “Amen,” of my dad’s Thanksgiving prayer, there was a knock at our front door. “Must be somebody wantin’ to play,” said my brother…
Every morning, very early, I sit in the same seat. I turn on the same light. I pick up my bible and my journal. The same bible and the same journal I use every morning. I read and write and think about what God has said to me in His word. And I often reflect…
I first learned about measuring when my dad and I were building a house. He was a carpenter. We needed fire blocking between studs in the walls before the sheet rock went on. My job was to cut 16-inch 2×4 fire blocks my dad would nail into place. Instead of measuring every block with a…
How’s it going? How did you ‘do’ today at navigating the no doubt dozens of things you had to do? Those generic, innocent questions we use in everyday life as we interact with others rarely invites a deeper reflection in those we might be asking. “Fine,” is probably the most common response we get when…
I’m not sure how they ever figured it out; those scientists and really smart people who say that we humans are only born with two ‘factory-installed’ fears: The fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises. I’m not a scientist, and I’m certainly not a really smart person, but I do have to disagree…