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: spirituality
On Weddings & Funerals
This week I attended a wedding and a funeral. The wedding was a ruckus affair, young hearts aflame with hope and inspiration, high fives and dance moves, a melding of different cultural and spirited expressions. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The memorial for my friend’s wife’s mother was subdued, respectful, fitting for…
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…
The Three Who Stayed
The phrase, ‘the twenty who stayed’ keeps scrolling across my memory, those students who loitered in the presence of God at the end of the Asbury University chapel service, unable to do anything else. One said, she thought it was twenty minutes, but it turned into three hours. Worship, prayer, songs of deliverance, freedom for…
Asbury Revival-Please Read Now!
It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m at the café down the way, seated among a throng of younger people, some alone and brooding, and others smiling in conversation. I’ve just tuned into the live feed of the revival going on at Asbury College, now for the past week and a half. I’m participating from a vantage…
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…
Finding A Rest, That Rests-Part II
BEATING WEARY WITH LOVE Most of us would have to admit we rarely if ever find ourselves completely rested, though all of us long for it. We long for a child’s energy, waking up ready and raring to go, skipping to breakfast! Instead, we substitute deep rest for a preoccupation with over-filling our day. We…
Finding A Rest, That Rests
During a catch-up appointment with a young leader, I noticed how tired his eyes looked. Toward the end of our time, I asked him how he was doing. He responded that he was beat, having just passed through a rigorous season of travel and ministry. He had tried to take some time off, but things…
Hard-Wired, Fit For Heaven
It was my senior year, county championships, mile run. My coach had entered me because he said I might break the county record. My personal best was 15 seconds faster than any other runner in the field. On the starting line I leered at my competition, literally growled at them, saliva running onto my beard. …
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…
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?…
To Sir, with love 