Because of time and distance from historic events, we tend to sanitize our interpretation of what happened. The massive sacrifices that took place in the Old Testament are such events. They were a bloody mess. During the temple dedication, Solomon had 22,000...
In the life of faith, there will be times when we must run ahead of what has become familiar, predictable, and expected of us. This moving ahead is not always a physical move. It could be initiated by a deeper revelation of how we see God’s Kingdom or a change in our...
I was invited to preach at a church in a European capital city. Just before the service, the pastor took me aside and said, “We don’t talk about the blood of Jesus. We went through World War II, and I am afraid it would make people feel uncomfortable mentioning...
I worked as a lifeguard during my summer breaks during college. When you have a bunch of kids in the water all screaming, thrashing, and splashing at the same time, you must look through all the noise and activity if you are going to see that one kid in trouble and in...
Atop a panoramic overlook above our home stands a tree beside a trail. For the last 20 years, I have hiked past the tree and noticed increasing numbers of people take it upon themselves to carve their initials into the tree. It is causing damage to the tree and in...
