I suffer, and you suffer. It’s what we do as human beings. Whether it’s a nagging muscle ache, or an ongoing battle with run away emotions, it’s the common thread we share. When we are privy to the pain of another, our first call is intercession. That good and redemptive act does two things tantamount…
Strangers on a Train
It was early morning, and not much chatter on the C train heading into Manhattan. I sat down next to a young man I noticed not sporting ear-phones. I asked him if he was a student, and he told me yes, but that he lived in St. Vincent in the Caribbean. I felt free to…
Bending Them Back
“Maybe we should have….” Parents and others who work with young adults find themselves occasionally uttering these words while talking about how the ‘kids are turning out.’ Our brood of five grew up in the same crib, same sets of hands changing diapers, same set of anxious eyes waiting for them to come home…
Revive Lord, Again!
Have you prayed for God to bring revival recently? Not long ago, prayer leaders, pastors, common people and even young people were calling others to call upon God to bring down a fresh movement in the church. It wasn’t just in a particular denomination, or vein of belief, but everywhere! I too was captured…
Living Letters, teach me Love
Like a grain of sand under your big toe, more subtle temptations can do damage to our spirit over the long haul. They seem less heroic to overcome than the dirty dozen, or seven deadly sins, but don’t let that fool you. Satan will try all schemes necessary, gloves off and no holds barred to…
How God Uses Fear
Charles deFoucauld said, “The thing we owe absolutely to God is never to be afraid of anything.” I know, who is this guy? Fear seems to singe the tips of our fingers, crowd the edges of our mind and is the first thing to push our feet faster when we fail to…
Lenny, and the Race that Changed Everything
I was in the stands of a track & field meet surrounded by a sea of athletic garb, when a man in a three-piece suit came in and sat down. He wore a cap and held a cane. All around me athletes pretended not to notice him. I stopped staring when the 400-meter special Olympic…
The Gracious Hammer
Bring down your gracious hammer, Lord; Until nothing left of glitter shines, Sift my pulverized soul, crushed to dull, So, Jesus Christ ablaze, abides. Fainting, fighting joyful surrender, You Ended cruel uncertainty and shame; The hands and feet nailed to wood that day Are too my calling, my single aim. The wise pretend a dignity…
Where is God?
Where was God during the last hours of Jesus’ life? The story of the passion is about two, not one walking through the crucible of the cross. Jesus and the Father, side-by-side, speaking non-stop as He knelt in the garden, during torture; as nails pierced His flesh, as His body lifted from the…
Faith Barriers
In 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4:00 minute mile, a feat thought impossible. In the video,(ww.youtube.com/watch?v=fveB-XgovgQ) you can hear the deafening roar of the crowd, but he noted that he heard very little, felt almost nothing. He was caught up in something beyond himself, beyond the thinkable. When he collapsed across the…
Being Silly
No Sweeter Green On a sunny day in Bed Stuy town, I saw a dollar on the ground; I looked to see what eyes had seen, And there it was, no sweeter green. What you say, but grass is better? Maybe, but not always to the letter, Kentucky blue has a different glow It cannot…
Star Face
The evangelism in the park seemed so natural, so full of unexpected interest, and heart to heart connections. I met Star Face, given the name after he got drunk one night and woke up with a giant star tattooed on his cheek. We talked about his other body art, piercings and the general discomfort he…