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…
The Carousel
Picture it, a small child holding her father’s hand, walking through a carnival. Everywhere she turns there are distractions and attractions. Yet, in that clamor and chaos, would this child dare release her hand from his? To do so, might just end in becoming separated, and finally lost. Instinctively, the child’s grip tightens, rather than…
The Call to Intimacy
The Great Commission is not an invitation, but a command. So, when we take it seriously, we find ourselves stepping into ministry, which compounds an already hectic lifestyle. So often, our unhurried moments with God become a casualty of war, instead of a conductor of love. Where do we draw the line between our mission’s…
Seven Skateboards
The seven skaters looked at us like we just landed our spacecraft. The best tact, direct and to the point: “We’re here to talk with you about Christianity!” Seven skateboards, seven suspicious souls. Some rolled their eyes, and others went to leave. But something kept their feet on those boards. We had an honest…
Code Name Sebastian
One of my top-ten all time favorite books! Here’s a few snippets from its musty bindings. Bonhoeffer said, “The church must get out of the cloister and into the world…man is challenged to participate in the sufferings of God at the hands of a godless world. He must therefore plunge himself into the life…
Three Daughters-A Tribute
Three daughters. Different as any humans can be, represented in this photo by the tight bulbs that encircle the bloom. Do you see them—three resplendent objects of perfection? Three individual shoots, yet all from the same branch. In shades, they share their mother’s quiet determination, and their father’s artistry; their mother’s discipline and their father’s…
FDR’s Prayer
On this night, sixty-eight years ago, our president, FDR spoke to an anxious nation. Our boys were storming the beaches of Europe to a hail of bullets and bombs, many never to return. Those who listened to him that evening didn’t need more information, because special reports had trickled in all day. The nation waited…
To Sir, with love 