simple obedience
In the Chinese culture, a baby's first month calls for celebration. In earlier days, infant mortality was high and a baby who reached one month of age was likely to survive. Party time! Parents would give out ang ku kuehs (traditional bean cakes) and red-dyed eggs (symbolizing happiness and good luck) to relatives and friends. The celebration also signaled the…
pain Is our platform
When Handel wrote the “Hallelujah Chorus,” his health and his fortunes had reached the lowest possible ebb. The right side had become paralyzed, and all his money was gone. He was heavily in debt and threatened with imprisonment. He was tempted to give up the fight. The odds seemed entirely too great. And it was then that he composed his…
March 25, 2009
How has God challenged you recently? What is He teaching you?
hardly heaven
The British Museum Reading Room is a wonderland for bibliophiles (extreme book-lovers!) like me. Stocked with 25,000 of my favorite objects, the room is perfectly cylindrical—we're talking 360 degrees of books! The ceiling is a vaulted dome painted powder blue with shimmering gold trim, while oblong windows encircle the top like a chorus of angels. Occasionally, you may hear the…
words
Every day we have a choice as to how we will use our words - to bless, complete and give life to others, or to curse, discourage, or crush the people in our sphere of influence. I am certain there are more, but I believe you can fit our words into at least four categories:
Careless words - A person whose tongue/speech…
the big "C" . . .
Cancer is a word none of us like to say. It's a word we would rather not think about. As a three-time cancer survivor, I've been forced to consider its effects. One thing God has taught me through my cancer is to have greater empathy for what others are going through. He's taught me a lot about perspective—what to sweat…
March 24, 2009
What's a highlight of a recent missions trip you took?
because you are here
Last summer, my friend Nathan went to Nairobi, Kenya. One afternoon, he ventured into Kibera, the second largest African slum. A massive expanse of impoverished conditions, Kibera feels like a place hope forgot.
An HIV-positive single mom graciously invited Nathan into her shack. Her husband’s sexual escapades had brought HIV home; and then the virus killed him, leaving her alone…
misplaced blame
The other morning I couldn’t find my wallet. I looked for it in the usual places—the bedroom dresser, the kitchen counter, my pants pocket—but my search came up empty.
My immediate response? I wanted to blame someone else. My wife must have put it somewhere. If not her, then it must have been one of my kids . . .…
March 22, 2009
How has your local church helped you grow in your faith?
the youngest among us
Our generation is experiencing the most rapid increase in human population of all time. We are living during an era when there are more children in the world—2.5 billion—than ever before. Only half a billion of these children live in wealthy nations, while 2 billion live in developing countries.
Living in the East Africa country, Uganda, where there are 2…
March 21, 2009
What person in the Bible can you identify with? Why?
God and a goose
Like many in our culture, he’s spiritual. At 17, he’s rejected the organized religion of his parents and grandparents as stodgy, stuffy—stifling. He attends church because that’s what his girlfriend does.
The limitations of science compel him to believe in a god. But the evil, the unfairness, and the hypocrisy he observes force him to conclude that this god is…
in transition
Just hours ago, at 7:44 (EST), the tilt of the earth's axis moved into what is called a "vernal equinox," officially marking the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. An equinox occurs when the earth is turning in such a way that the duration of day and night is virtually equal.
Even though I had to scrape frost off…
March 20, 2009
Today is the first of day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (finally!). How does spring affect you—emotionally, physically, spiritually?
