divine gps
Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology has changed the way we get from one place to another. All I need to do is type in an address and my GPS device guides me to my destination.
dog whisperer
My young nieces recently introduced me to a favorite TV show of theirs: The Dog Whisperer. In the series, an animal behaviorist named Cesar Millan gives advice to pet owners who have unruly dogs. We soon became hooked on the show.
the gift of time
Our 5-year-old son lives by a simple credo: Never, ever be bored! He’s always investigating, always testing, usually grubby, never still—not even in his sleep. Liam doesn’t share his father’s fear of heights or snakes, nor does he possess his mother’s good sense. His favorite phrase typically occurs too late for Mom, Dad, or older siblings to intervene. “Watch this!” he’ll announce as he begins his incautious leap to . . . wherever.
search for significance
I have to admit, with some shame, that I’ve Googled my own name. I know, I know—it’s immature and narcissistic. I think I—and others like me—do this because we want some living proof that we’re significant and important in some way.
roots that drink from heaven
A man knocked on my office door and asked me if I would officiate his marriage. I asked him to sit down so we could chat about his plans, timing, and spiritual life. “Oh, I’m not sure you understand,” he said, “I’d like you to marry me today, like in the next hour.” The story is complicated, but his fiancée was from a country in Asia and was living in the US with a short-term visa. For numerous reasons he wanted to marry right away, but he didn’t want a civil authority to perform the ceremony. He wanted a church and a pastor.
break camp and move on
In his book Seize the Day, Danny Cox, a former jet pilot turned business leader, explained why pilots needed a new ejection system. In the former system, when pilots initiated ejection, all they needed to do was clear the plane and roll forward out of the seat. During testing, however, the pilots wouldn’t let go of the seat during the process. The engineers came up with a solution. Two seconds after ejection commenced, an electronic take-up reel would immediately take up the slack and force the pilot forward out of his seat—freeing the parachute.
demanding answers
Remember that thing Charlotte used to say when she didn’t get her way?”
saying goodbye
Today I told my friend Jen goodbye. Having met her a year ago, I liked her from the first time I interviewed her for a teaching position in our department. I soon realized we were twins born 8 years apart—she too keeps bananas in her freezer forever and has a sensitive heart. Witty, bright, strong—and unafraid to cry—Jen embraces life with passion. I’ll miss her dearly as she begins a new life with her husband in a different city and state. As unexpectedly as our paths crossed, they now divide.
God is powerless?
Rabbi Harold Kushner lost a son to a degenerative disease—premature aging syndrome. He later wrote the bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Trying to maintain his belief in God, he said that God is either not good enough, since he allowed the sickness, or not powerful enough to prevent it. He chose the latter. According to Kushner, God created the world but isn’t in complete control of it. In other words, God hopes for our good and sympathizes with us in our pain, but He’s powerless to do anything about it.
Jesus changes everything
If Jesus hadn’t entered our world, two things would be true. First, those with the most _________ win. (Fill in the blank with whatever you or your culture happen to value most.) In ancient times, it was those with the most camels, wives, or gold. Today it includes those with the most cash, toys, or Facebook friends. Either way the goal is the same: Get all you can while you can.
a sulking prophet
We might think of God’s prophets as holy and well-behaved, somewhat like that model student in school. But there was a prophet who had the audacity to yell, “God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!” Jonah was that man, and his words are written in the Bible for all to see.
healed
Healing has never been a clear-cut issue for me. While I have never experienced a miraculous physical restoration, I have seen God’s hand of provision at work in my body and others’ bodies.
bring it on
Australian-born evangelist Nick Vujicic entered the world without arms or legs. Throughout his life, he’s had a deep desire for God to make him whole. Nick has even prayed that he would grow appendages. Once, he and some Christian friends fashioned arms and legs out of clay and prayed for the limbs to become flesh. Although it didn’t happen, Nick still prays, “Please give me arms and legs. But if You don’t . . . I trust You.” He says his commitment to Jesus is simply to “want His plan.”
a baby’s cry
Recently, one state in the US instituted a law requiring each pregnant woman considering an abortion to watch a sonogram of her unborn child, receive medically accurate explanations of what she views, and listen to her baby’s heartbeat. Following the law’s passage, a blogger who supports abortion raised money and bought iPods for abortion clinics. Her purpose? To provide each patient with a way to drown out the sound of her baby’s heartbeat. By cranking up the volume, she can stifle the sounds of life within her.
why baptism?
The announcement couldn’t have been clearer: “Water baptism is not an option for the believer in Jesus. Please sign up for baptism. Baptismal classes begin in 2 weeks time.” After the service, a young man confronted the pastor. “Pastor, I am saved by grace and not through baptism. I don’t see the need for baptism.”
