I recently discovered a unique journal packed away in a box during our move to Austin. I had created it during a season I can only describe as a very dark night. On a sketch pad I had written words, then colored them in, creating a poster each night I spent with the Lord. One…
Tag: Love
Purple Rain on the F Train
In the early days of our stint in NYC, I met a youth pastor named Dario who had a fantastic church facility, but few students to fill it. We got talking one day about what Cru did well, and how he wanted his church to serve his neighborhood in Jamaica, Queens. So, I asked a…
On Leaving and Coming Home
The Gospel invites us to walk out the will of God. We can do that because of Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will, to be the perfect Lamb Sacrifice. His obedience categorically crushed our disobedience. Not that we won’t on occasion slip, stub a toe, stumble, or fall, as we try to stay in step….
When Gift And Gift Giver Collide
It happens often, as I sit with God, listen, pray, and write my heart out, that He gives me an outpouring of ideas, creative and poetic phrases, even songs. But it rarely stops there, because something inside of me urges me to give it all back to him. When I do, I feel like a…
Old Words To Young Hearts
Julian of Norwich, an anchoress and prophetic voice to her generation said, “We are Christ’s bliss.” Think for a moment how deeply loved you are, more than any text would suggest, or theology argues. With this bliss from the right hand of God, we labor without thought of whether we have enough to go the…
Laura’s story
The doctors had signed the paperwork. Officially, she was gone. My younger sister Laura had come to the hospital with a burst kidney, and during surgery her heart had stopped. This is Laura speaking: “I found myself kneeling before a figure wearing sandals, and I knew it was Jesus. In that moment I felt a…
A Sow Named Gertrude
There’s a sow who lives on my daughter Brianna’s farm named Gertrude. Because of her trim figure, she has avoided being a pork chop, and become a pet. A while back dogs attacked her and ran off with her ears. Yea, that’s right, her ears! Oh, don’t feel too sad for Gertrude, she’s still one…
Love Carries A Saw
My friend Bob used to remind me that God comes as love, carrying a saw. When he was 19, Bob and his brother crashed into a telephone pole, and walked away unscathed. But Bob stumbled going up the embankment and his arm touched a down power line. He said during his six month’s hospital stay…
Three Questions…
Another one in the books. Another 365 days, the slow grind of a year, that now glancing back, feels more like a runaway train. Today I take pause before the train leaves the station of 2023, and ask myself three questions. Perhaps one of these will resonate with you. Did I view myself as God does?…
Grumpy Disciples-Contemplation’s Role in Re-creation
One of my favorite times of the day is what I call office hours. I shut the door to my office, put on piano music, light a candle, and close my eyes. The silence wraps me like a heavy blanket. My thoughts are a bundle of sharp brambles; their edges poke at me, a reminder…
Contemplation – One Step of Hope at a Time
A couple years ago, after heart issues had me in and out of the hospital, I fell into a dark place. I use the word dark to describe how sleep escaped me, and how each successive night of wide-eyed toss and turns left me weaker, more anxious and wondering if I’d ever get a full…
Contemplative Prayer-The Fire of transformation
It’s clear from scripture that God is fire. Moses stood before a burning bush, as well as followed that same pillar of fire guiding him in the desert. Tongues of fire appeared over the heads of the apostles at Pentecost. The Bible describes God as a consuming fire. Which reminds me of a little bon…
To Sir, with love 