There is this saying out there: The Lord helps those who help themselves. Sometimes this is said sardonically. It becomes an indictment against God’s involvement in one’s life. It is the prayer of Jimmy Stewart’s character in Shenandoah: “Thank you Lord for this food, even though we tilled the ground; we planted the seed; we… Read More ›

So, you have been invited to an awards ceremony. You are pretty convinced that you have been invited because of something you have done; the book you authored; the song you wrote; the medical discovery you made. You are surrounded by your peers. People who have also accomplished great things. They make a speech that… Read More ›

I have this crazy idea that God gave us rules to help us not to harm us; to encourage growth not to stifle it. And when we focus so much on the rules that we miss what the rule is about, well, that is when the stifling harm happens. It is the church that thinks… Read More ›

For some, their journey feels as if it has been thrust upon them; an unwanted traipse through an unwanted life. And it can become convenient to blame our journey on the happenstance of fate. But I think it more likely that our journey is shaped by our wants. Those wants may be forged in circumstances… Read More ›

If you can be guilty by association, can you be innocent by association? Can a sycophant be swept along to glory? Let’s approach this from a different angle. The third commandment of the renowned Ten Commandments is “You shall not take the name of the Lord you God in vain.” The word “take” means “lift,… Read More ›

It is difficult not to interpret God’s word through our current circumstances. There is a difference between asking “What does God’s word say to our situation?” and “What does our situation tell us God’s word means?” The former is a turning to Scripture seeking to find answers for cultural happenings and the latter is a… Read More ›

Some people seem all doubled over with burden; bowed down with a horrible weight they can no longer carry; crippled by calamitous life. Some are shackled with feelings of inadequacy. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote a series of short stories entitled “Notes from the Underground.” It is all about people who feel invisible; people who mostly go… Read More ›

Once, there were these three peach trees from Georgia. Why Georgia? All the good peach trees are from Georgia. One of these trees decided that it didn’t want to produce Georgia peaches. It wanted to produce Washington apples. But no matter how hard it tried, if it produced fruit at all, well, it was peaches…. Read More ›

Did they get what they deserved? In that question there are a few assumptions: they as apposed to us or me; and they deserve to be punished or consequenced – but me? Well, of course not. What are you thinking? And now we have another assumption that existed in Jesus’ day and breathes in our… Read More ›

Maybe our problem is that we don’t understand our debt. I mean if someone takes us to court to give them money we don’t owe them, we are going to resist that with vigor. The one time I went to court to contest a ticket I won. After a motorcycle accident, I was given a… Read More ›