something good
Last April in Johannesburg, South Africa, large crowds lined up to purchase tickets to the World Cup—the first Cup ever to be held in the African continent. One man (the 565th person in line) passed away as he waited to purchase tickets. A FIFA official told reporters that there was a “massive demand for tickets.” Energy and excitement had struck…
the weak and the afflicted
During a visit to an East Africa hospital, I met a 10-year-old boy, Joseph, who is severely disfigured. A nurse explained that when Joseph was an infant his mother set him on fire. Though he miraculously survived, his left leg was burned to a mere stub. His right is permanently bent backwards, with webbed toes that were heavily damaged by…
when God arrives
Last January, as Haiti reeled from a crushing earthquake, one tragic account told of a mother who had three daughters between the ages of four and nine. She had been cooking for her girls when the earthquake hit. Severely injured, the mom could not move or care for her children. When help arrived, the young girls had gone two days…
vipers
Last year, Tiger Woods’ public persona unraveled as one moral failure after another rushed to light. While this sad occasion offers us another opportunity to critique the feeding frenzy of pop journalism as well as the idol status we offer our celebrities (a status they could never live up to), it also provides each of us a sober reminder. If…
alarmed
Crouched on the floor amid rows of lockers, the young students lowered their heads to their knees. Barely bothering to kneel, the older students followed the minimal requirement without giving the warning any serious thought. Although they were glad to miss class, the tornado drill was little more than an inconvenience affecting their comfort and rumpling their clothing. In their…
what are you waiting for?
In 2009, my corner of the world had one of the coldest summers on record. Then snowflakes fell early in the fall. My friends and I joked that we don’t know about global warming, but we’re all for it. We’re threatening to buy larger vehicles and any product that comes in aerosol—whatever it takes to expand the greenhouse effect and…
Your kingdom come
When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13), the Jews were under Roman rule. God had promised them a deliverer—the Messiah. A Jew praying, “May Your kingdom come soon” (v.10) would have had in mind the end of Roman rule, for the Messiah was to come and establish a new kingdom (Luke 19:11), and for David’s descendant to…
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…
maranatha
My children were so excited about their cousins coming over that they rode their bikes to the end of our road in anticipation of their arrival. As I watched them stand sentinel at the top of our hill, ready to escort their cousins’ van to our house, I was reminded of the ancient word parousia. A parousia, or appearance of…
all shall be well
Between natural disasters leveling wide swaths of crops and inflation dramatically skyrocketing prices, even subsistence foods like rice or beans have been pushed almost out of reach for many in developing economies. In response to the estimated one million North Koreans who starved to death in the late 1990s, government researchers have been working to develop a noodle that "delays…
