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Living in the Tension

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…”  Ecclesiastes 3:1 I recently read an article by David Leonhardt that effectively captures the tension in which we’re living as we continue to deal with the disruptive presence of Covid in...

Jesus Calms The Storm

“Peace is not the absence of conflict…” This quote has been lifted and shared many times. A Google search will show multiple sources. It seems that everyone from Ronald Reagan to Martin Luther King Jr. to peace advocates in the early 1940’s have been credited with...

On Being A Signpost

Several years ago, when I was first trying hard to take my faith seriously, I ran across a book by John White entitled The Fight: A Practical Handbook for Christian Living. This wonderful little volume helped me put several of the thoughts and feelings I had held most...

I AM who I AM

The scripture is Exodus chapter three. The scene is Moses standing in front of the burning bush. Moses has been in the desert, herding sheep and putting his old life in Egypt far behind him for forty years. Whether his family and his people ever fill his dreams or...

The Gospel of Encounters

The Gospel of John is very different from the other three Gospels. It has no parables and no Sermon on the Mount or Plain as in Matthew or Luke. It gives no birth narrative or genealogy of Jesus. It is seemingly not concerned with showing Jesus as the fulfillment of...

The Future is Not What it Used to Be

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” – Yogi Berra Happy New Year and welcome to the year 2022!  If we’ve learned anything during the past few years, it’s that predicting the future is a notoriously difficult thing to do! Who could have...

What’s On Your List

Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth’s superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind — Emily Dickinson  ’Tis...

Why I Love Seasons

First, let me acknowledge that as a Southern California native, I haven’t really experienced four seasons in an annual, sustained way. I have, however, traveled sufficiently and seen enough pictures of fall colors and first snowfalls to be able to say that I’m a big...

Unexpected Blessings

This has been such a long season of restrictions and inconveniences. When this pandemic first hit, none of us believed that it might go on for more than 18 months. Now that it has, I am still not sure I can see an end to this thing. Certainly, things are better than...

Encountered by God

Encountered by God Have you ever noticed in Scripture that God rarely calls us to find him? That concept does show up now and then in Scripture. God does say in Jeremiah “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” There are a few passages...