expansion
Looking out my back picture window, the normally peaceful view had become a bit of a wasteland. Scraps from our now nonexistent deck lay stacked against the fence, twisted sprinkler pipes poked out at varied angles from the red clay, and the once green grass now bore the violent claw marks from a backhoe. We had entered into an entirely…
from eden to here
Recently my 5-year-old son, Seth, came running into the room. “Daddy, you have to teach me a superpower.” Apparently, Seth’s 7-year-old brother Wyatt had convinced Seth that I had already bequeathed to him a superpower—how to be invisible. Now, here Seth stood, waiting for his own bit of the birthright.
Each of us desires to have a unique purpose. We…
one, two, three . . .
When my son was a toddler, I played a game with him that made a big splash—literally. As I stood in the water, just a few feet from the edge of the pool, I would reach out my arms and encourage him to leap from the safe terra firma to me. I would count, “One . . two . .…
rich
Their fatigue and discomfort blended with the barren landscape as the group walked through the dirt streets. Trash littered what could hardly be considered front yards. This arid area of Choluteca known as “The New City” exists in denial of its name. Unclothed children, wild dogs, and a few large pigs ran through the streets with little purpose or focus…
the longing of God
Blaise Pascal once said the now-famous words: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which [can] be filled . . . only be filled by God.” St. Augustine once prayed, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” In Revelation 21 we see the end of human longing—the heart at rest in relationship…
laughter
Chuck Shepherd oversees the Web site News of the Weird that reports all the strange, unbelievable stories crossing the newswires. Shepherd’s site will leave you scratching your head at the improbable or ludicrous happenings. The site boasts the tagline: “Proof that true stories are weirder than made-up stories.”
Often, people put God’s words in the same category. Are you kidding…
your role is needed
One of my daughter’s high school teachers appeared in the 1986 movie Hoosiers. The film is based on the true story of a small-town high school basketball team in the US and their improbable run to the Indiana state championship. He didn’t have a big role. He had no lines. His name doesn’t even appear in the credits. He was…
building personal altars
Every Friday night a group of us get together to share what's going on in our lives, read the Bible, and pray. We're a diverse bunch, with a mathematician, a musician, a lawyer, a public speaker, and even an amateur political activist in the ranks.
Recently we read the Tower of Babel account and were struck by the builders' motivation.…
citizenship
Where is your citizenship? No, I am not asking if you are a naturalized citizen of your country. I am not asking if you are African, French, German. According to the Bible, there are only two citizenships—that of the world, and that of heaven; the kingdom of darkness, and the kingdom of light. In which of these do you hold…
food court theology lesson
So here I am, sitting in a shopping mall food court. My body is tense, my stomach knotted. My to-do list is long and my progress this particular day is disappointing. Unexpected complications have brought delays and I'm fretting over the deadlines ahead: a radio show to plan, an article to write, the myriad details of a national project I'm…
heaven's fruit
Recently, I was curious about the question of what fruits are native to the United States. Answer: not as many as you would think. Not one of the more common choices I researched (apples, oranges, tomatoes) was indigenous.
Still, apple orchards dot the geography where I live. Tomato plants are truly ubiquitous, found even in the unlikeliest of places (like…
