finishers
Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, architect, and poet, whose artistic accomplishment exerted a tremendous amount of influence on his contemporaries and on subsequent European art. The sad reality is, however, that he left many of his works unfinished.
Whether or not all His creatures realize it, God, the divine sculptor and architect of the universe, finished His works (Genesis 2:1-2).…
personal and present
Author Eckhart Tolle has described God as an “invisible energy field” that animates us and every other thing. For singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, God is “a word to describe the life force that has created all,” and for controversial bishop John Shelby Spong, God is the impersonal force behind life, love, and existence.
For some authors, artists, and philosophers, God is…
stained
It had been one of those days. Busy, disjointed, and generally out of sorts. So I was less than thrilled when I opened the dryer to discover a red marker without its cap among the load of newly washed clothes. Assessing the damage, I sighed heavily as I realized only a few pieces of the large load had been left…
God is coming
Recently, two pygmy sperm whales lay stranded near a New Zealand beach. Though volunteers, led by conservation officer Malcolm Smith, worked tirelessly, they couldn’t coax the beached whales back out into the open water. Just as they were about to surrender hope, a local bottlenose dolphin named Moko arrived, made a few shrill noises toward the whales—and immediately led them…
people make the place
Every romantic movie filmed in Italy includes a classic shot of the Amalfi Coast, where hairpin turns lead wide-eyed sightseers past lemon groves, vineyards, and whole towns built into the side of a mountain. It’s one of the most beautiful spots on earth. But I spent 3 days there and hated it.
I couldn’t enjoy the sights and sounds because I…
July 26, 2010
The Bible says: “If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer” (Proverbs 9:12). How have you suffered when you’ve scorned wisdom? How have you seen someone else suffer?
genealogies
I have a confession to make. Reading through the lists of genealogies in the Bible can be less than scintillating for me. I know. Sure, they’re important. They help trace and verify a person’s roots. And they often provide essential background information as to why a story or person in the Bible is so relevant and remarkable. But, if you’re…
dying wish
Last year, Amilcar Hill and Rahwa Ghirmatizion were married at their child’s funeral. Now before you start to cast stones (instead of rice) at them, realize that they were simply striving to honor their son Asa. Prior to the 7-year-old’s tragic death in an automobile accident, he had been repeatedly asking his mom and dad—who had never legally wed—to tie…
day of the Lord
In The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote: “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and…
behaving badly
Evelyn Waugh is the author of such literary classics as A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited. He possessed a scathing wit, and numerous other personal flaws we won’t enumerate here.
After flirting with agnosticism, Waugh converted to Catholicism. Yet he still struggled. One day a woman asked him, “Mr. Waugh, how can you behave as you do and still…
glory and grace
The Lord’s Prayer is a relational prayer. And, though it might surprise you, it reveals a lot about our relationship with God. In these well-known lines, He reveals Himself to us—who He is and what He has done for us.
The prayer also reveals how we should respond to Him. Its initial focus is on God’s glory, affirming His paternity…
cleansing
Every 12 years, millions of Hindus flock to Allahabad, India, to take a dip in the Ganges River. Scores get hurt as bathers rush to the water. The solution: purification by proxy. A popular Web site, webdunia.com, offers virtual cleansing. “Pilgrims” who want to avoid crowds, chaos, and travel costs can send a passport-size photo to the site, which then…
give me wisdom
While driving two six-6-year-old Ugandan orphans I’m helping to raise to school one morning, the discussion turned to the boys’ future jobs.
Quickly chiming in with his career choice, one said, “Me, I’m going to be a doctor!” When I asked the other what he’d like to do, he replied, “Auntie Rox, me, I’m going to ask God to give…
July 19, 2010
From an ODJ community member: "I've experienced a number of unsuccessful dating relationships. Now, I'm feeling the pressure to get married from others and from within my own heart. What should I do?"
the holy riddler
Mighty, majestic, awesome. Gracious, loving, kind. Such descriptors for God are common, and rightly so. But how many of us would add “playful” to the list? How many of us think of God as the One who toys with us—the holy riddler?
“Son of man,” God commands Ezekiel, “give this riddle, and tell this story to the people of Israel”…
