the embrace of God
Adrian Edwards was separated from his parents as a toddler, passed along from institution to foster home, and introduced to a life of crime at a young age. As a teenager, he was convicted of armed robbery and spent time in Western Australia’s Fremantle jail. There, in a strange twist of fate, he met his father who was serving time…
the three widows
The bus screeched to a halt at the road junction. Together with three friends, we alighted from the bus into the smothering heat. Across the road, we saw a lady waving at us. She has gotten two other friends from the village to come and fetch us on their motorbikes. And so, off we went—cutting across the luscious green fields,…
even in the dark
Joining the rash of reality television shows in the United States, Dating in the Dark hit the airwaves last summer. Each week, three guys and three girls got together for a week of dates—in a darkened room. They all made the rounds, talking and sharing meals as couples. But they never actually saw what one another looked like. At the end…
June 28, 2010
What's something you're praising God for today?
A-poe-la-pi
How does one begin to write about the glorious work of God? For days I’ve been rolling over and over in my head, words to describe God’s indescribable glory. But the more I ruminate on the events that took place during my recent mission trip to China, the more I feel the finitude of words and the infinitude of our…
worn out?
I’m just so tired.” It’s a common phrase that I’ve heard from people in my counseling office over the years. Sometimes they say the words to play the “pity me” card. Others are unknowingly lying to themselves— falling deeper into discouragement and depression. But in many cases, they’re voicing a legitimate cry of an exhausted heart.
At a time when…
put your feet on the rock
During a leaders’ gathering, my friend Chad watched intensely as his daughter, Hannah, climbed up a rock wall. Hannah was making progress, until she began slipping a bit. Chad called out to her, “Put your feet on the rock!” He wanted his daughter to understand that she could find stability on the hard stone that was near her. Isaiah had…
vital signs
Quietly reading her magazine, she waits to hear her name. Upon her turn, she follows the nurse back to the examination room. When the doctor enters, the woman amiably proceeds to tell him everything’s going just fine and that she’s expecting him to write her a clean bill of health. Unprepared for the truth, she stands up abruptly and walks…
sock puppet and frenemy
Do you use a sock puppet to secretly keep track of your frenemies? Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes?” If you’re not sure what all that means, turn to the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. The book of words has just added more than 100 new ones. Two new entries caught my attention: sock puppet and frenemies. A “sock puppet”…
foundations
A nearly finished 13-story apartment building in Shanghai toppled over like a lone domino pushed by an invisible hand. An engineer on site said, “When we arrived on the scene, we were very shook up. In my 46 years of work, I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing.” When they investigated, the engineers discovered that excavators had undermined…
true view
Researchers Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton have coined a term for the religious beliefs of many teens—Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Their view of God and faith—shared by a good portion of adults as well—is moralistic in that they think life is all about getting people to “be good.” Therapeutic stands for the reality that the teens feel that faith is…
waiting patiently
While I’ve been a Christian for many years, there are some aspects of Jesus’ life that I’ve only recently come to wonder about. Like what His Galilean accent really sounded like, what mannerisms He picked up from Joseph and Mary, and who His best friends were. Actually, today’s passage sheds light on that last question. While Jesus called His disciples…
June 21, 2010
What advice would you give to the parents of a child who is not living for Jesus?
idols
I knew of a young couple living in Togo, West Africa. As followers of Jesus, they occasionally encountered disapproval from family members who still practiced the old tribal rites.
One day the husband was tragically killed in a traffic accident. It was then that the clash between faith and tradition came to a head. At the funeral, the wife’s family…
complete integrity
If Jesus were to identify one thing He appreciates about you, what would it be? Nathanael, whom some scholars say was also known as Bartholomew, heard the following words from Jesus, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity” (John 1:47).
What is a “genuine son of Israel”? Romans 2:29 states, “A true Jew is one…
