Entering into God’s Rest
My son and I spent a few days with friends at their home in the beautiful northern region of New England in the US. Our visit followed my ninth consecutive year of fruitful but intense ministry in East Africa. Depleted and in need of recharging, I was grateful for the physical rest my friends’ hospitality provided.
God’s Renewing Presence
I long for the cold embrace of death,” tweeted my friend’s teenage son—feigning mock despair. Apparently his second-hour high school orchestra class was dragging on too long. So he put into practice what he had learned in his first-hour class: creative writing.
new
Happy New Year! It’s time again to ring in another fresh set of 365 days.
worth the wait
Everybody is waiting for something. What are you waiting for—employment, marriage, family peace? Imagine having to wait centuries for the fulfillment of a promise, but there was no evidence that it would be fulfilled. This was the spiritual and emotional climate during the time Jesus was born. People were waiting for God to fulfill the promise of restoration through the Messiah, but the political, social, and spiritual darkness concealed any evidence that God would keep His promise. Many people became weary of being righteous. Yet, there was a man who continued to wait and trust in God’s promise (Luke 2:25).
indicted or invited?
There are two ways most people tend to read the Bible. One is to read it mostly as an indictment of the human race. In other words, we’re sinful rebels who are bent on finding life apart from God.
clear, pure water
A tall, cold glass of water. The condensation on the glass cools my hand. Clear, pure, colorless, odorless; free of man-made chemicals and corruption. I lift the glass to my lips and drink this water that deeply refreshes.
A small, gurgling stream in the forest. Silky ripples, floating leaves, water flowing smoothly around rocks and branches. Liquid as clear as…
be renewed
Ephesians 4:20-24: Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
As we…
letting go
I’ve never been a particularly fast writer, but when it came to texting, my speed was somewhere in the range of “turtlelike.” While receiving a second or third text, I was still responding to the first. So when it came time for a new cell phone, I chose one with a QWERTY keyboard in hopes of gaining speed. As much…
running on empty
My boss and I were driving back from a neighboring town late one night when our car rolled to a stop. “We’re out of gas,” she said. There was a gas station about a quarter of a mile away, so we shrugged into our coats, shoved the doors open, and started walking.
If you’ve ever been low on fuel, you…
watching your wait
A Fitness magazine poll of 1,000 women found that women are willing to take drastic steps to reach their ideal weight: Twenty-three percent said they would spend a week in jail. Twenty-three percent would shave their head. Twenty-two percent would wear a bikini on TV. Twenty-one percent would trade 10 years of their life to lose some pounds.
It’s apparent that…
between touches
During the time scholars refer to as His “year of opposition,” Jesus and His disciples traveled through the village of Bethsaida. By then, His reputation as a healer had spread throughout the region of Galilee.
Some of the local villagers approached Jesus and begged Him to heal one of their friends who was blind (Mark 8:22). Jesus graciously led the…
full tank
Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century French abbot, once said, "The man who is wise . . . will see his life more like a reservoir than as a canal. The canal . . . pours out as it receives. The reservoir retains the water until it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself."
Quite the insightful word…
