the comfort of God
Sometimes I wish life was like more like an episode of the television drama House. The show is about an egotistical but genius medical sleuth (Dr. Gregory House) who diagnoses and treats mysterious, life-threatening illnesses.
love in action
During the US civil rights struggle, lovingkindness required the demolishing of unjust laws, but it also required that individuals take deliberate action. It was not enough for whites to take down the “Whites Only” signs or allow blacks to vote. True welcome and relationship required whites to move toward friendship; and it also required blacks to embrace (again and again) the risk of stepping into friendships within contexts where they had been wronged and excluded. It required love in action.
hospitality
The disciples went fishing because they were hungry and, frankly, there wasn’t much else to do (John 21:3). Their lives had taken a dramatic turn for the third time in about as many weeks.
loneliness—a life story
I want to share a life experience to encourage others. Here it is:
It was back then in my first day of school in becoming a junior high school student in a Christian School. There were many students from another Elementary school that enrolled in that school, but none came from my school—only me. I was not the one who…
brothers and sisters
Julian and Adrian Riester were born in Buffalo, New York, in 1919. The identical twins lived their lives in sync—attending the same schools (where they enjoyed switching identities and fooling teachers) and taking many trips together over their 92 years on earth. Eventually, they both became Franciscan friars and spent most of their time at New York’s St. Bonaventure University,…
time in a bottle
Last year, Daniil Korotkikh, a 13-year-old Russian boy, was beachcombing on the Curonian Spit when he stumbled upon an old bottle poking out of the sand. He picked it up, uncorked it, and discovered a letter written 24 years earlier. Frank, a German boy on a ship to Denmark with his family, had written a letter including his address for…
betrayed by a friend
One of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the movie Braveheart occurs when William Wallace realizes his countryman, Robert the Bruce, has betrayed him by secretly aligning with the English at the Battle of Falkirk. Wallace, who has expended great effort fighting for Scotland’s freedom, is so overcome by grief that he physically collapses on the battlefield—even with English soldiers bearing down…
comes back around
As a youth pastor’s wife, I have plenty of opportunities to practice conflict resolution skills with those in our ministry. Especially in working with the girls. Gossip, however, is not limited to the female gender or to young adults (as my husband and I discovered at a dinner party a few weeks back). Recently, though, I had an opportunity to…
you choose Q: "why should I maintain a relationship with a difficult friend"?
Q: Why should I maintain a relationship with a self-centered, immoral friend who claims to be a Christian but is not living like one? I'm starting to hate her! —Cass
A: Hi, Cass. Thank you for writing us and asking us about this friendship. We appreciate hearing from you.
This relationship sounds like it has been exhausting for you. Clearly…
umbrella
Rhythm and blues artist Rihanna sang of the power of friendship to pull us through cloudy weather in her hit song Umbrella. “Now that it’s raining more than ever,” she sings, “Know that we’ll still have each other; You can stand under my umbrella.” An umbrella is a memorable metaphor for our need to help each other, but it also…
well-timed words
In the book Encouragement: The Key to Caring, Larry Crabb describes how nerve-wracking it was the first time he volunteered to pray out loud during a church service. Larry recalled, “I found my theology becoming confused to the point of heresy. I remember thanking the Father for hanging on the cross and praising Christ for triumphantly bringing the Spirit from the…
don’t be cruel
Have you noticed how difficult it is for elected officials to break bad news to their citizens? Numerous countries are drowning in debt, yet most leaders refuse to raise taxes or cut benefits. Figuring that bankruptcy will be the next government’s problem, they happily kick the crisis down the road.
These leaders act like the false prophets in Jerusalem. God…
no condemnation
As an avid angler, I find the stories of Jesus and fishing particularly compelling. In one account, along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus appeared to His disciples for the third time following His resurrection (John 21:1-23). Similar to the time they had first met the Master (Luke 5:1-11), they had caught nothing after a frustrating night of fishing. Then Jesus…
the art of friendship
According to the New American Webster Handy College Dictionary, art is the application of knowledge or skill, it is works designed to give intellectual pleasure (as music, sculpture) and pictorial representation, it is a skillful workmanship.
After having spent the last few weeks pondering this thing called "friendship," I have learned that it is indeed an art. Friendship is cultivated…
