Gaining a heart of wisdom
In ways that are both mundane and catastrophic, life has a way of going off the rails. Everything from rain showers overlooked by the weather forecast to devastating diagnoses, all serve to remind us that we're not in control of our lives—at least not as much as we might wish. Whenever the unexpected happens, we're… Continue reading Is Your Theology Able To Handle The Unexpected?
If you've ever grown garlic, maybe you've noticed the curled, flowering shoot that appears once the top leaves are fully established. Gardeners recognize it as the "scape," and the scape needs to be snipped off to allow the plant's energy to remain focused underground in creating a big, beautiful garlic bulb for next winter's pizza… Continue reading Be Brave! Cut Off Everything that Isn’t Helpful
One of my kids has been digging holes, taking things apart, and fixing things since he was old enough to ask for a shovel. It's no surprise, then, to observe that he's Mr. Carburetor in the world of small engines (to which I do NOT have a passport) and works in a field that requires… Continue reading When Your Unique Calling Means Doing What You Can’t NOT Do
When King Solomon, confronted by two women who were claiming the same baby, pronounced, "Cut the baby in half!" how did he know that one of the women, the real mother, would rather give up her child than see him murdered? (1 Kings 3:16-28) When Samuel the prophet grabbed his sword and "hacked Agag to… Continue reading I Need More Wisdom! How Can I Grow in Godly Insight?
God is at work around the world. North America and Western Europe are no longer the hotbeds of Christian thought and culture—although the growth of the "nones" has plateaued as Gen Z starts looking for answers outside themselves. In the global South, Christianity is growing at an unprecedented rate. With 67% of all Christians living… Continue reading How Can We Raise Kids Who Are World Christians?
Often, it's the stories we've read one hundred times that surprise us when they jump off the page because of a minor plot point, missed on earlier readings. I'm reading in Exodus again and, once again, we're slogging through the wilderness. God has provided miraculous food, and Israel is singing the blues about missing the… Continue reading The Truth About Your Complaining
A tall platform at the Colorado Springs Zoo gives patrons a once-in-a-lifetime, eyeball-to-eyeball experience with giraffes, the gentle giants of the animal kingdom. Not quite two years old, my little grandson fed lettuce leaves to his new, tame, and very attentive friends. “Look at those big brown eyes!” I crowed. “Big, beautiful eyes like yours!” “Long purple… Continue reading Hey, We Don’t Talk That Way In Our House
Since the blossoms will become green beans, since the tomatoes will soon be crowding each other for a peek of the red-ripening sun, since going to the garden feeds my soul as well as my family, I look forward every year to the season of hunkering down between the bean plants. It seems to become… Continue reading Diligence and Focus: Lessons from My Garden
Fresh out of college, I worked for a children’s ministry. I planned and orchestrated kids' events, taught a lot of Bible lessons and memory verses, but my first great love was teacher training. I loved taking the teachers into the cultural ideas that were shaping the worldviews of the kids they were teaching. I loved… Continue reading Does Your Prayer Life Point to the Beauty of Christ?
One of the underrated benefits of substitute teaching is exposure to the head-spinning fluctuations of the kids' vocabulary. For the uninitiated, you'll be glad to know that if something is good, it slaps. But if I do something well, I slay. Best of all, the quality that allows me to be perceived as performing slap-worthy… Continue reading The Creative Power Of Charisma—Is It A Good Thing?
Living Our Days 