Gaining a heart of wisdom
The insistent tone of my cell phone’s timer carried through floorboards to our basement schoolroom--another call to prayer unanswered. I sighed, turned the page, and continued with my sixth-grader in a lesson on fractions. I had been reading about the historical practice of praying the hours, setting aside intentional moments throughout the day at specific… Continue reading Holiness in the Here and Now
Do you ever stop to consider why you do what you're doing? If one message has come through to me in living color, full volume from this journey through Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, it's the importance of motive. Outward obedience isn't even half as important as our heart attitude. True righteousness penetrates beyond mere… Continue reading “I Never Knew You”—The Scariest Words in the Bible
By the third or fourth time one of their thorns had punctured a lawn mower tire, we had started to call them "devil trees." An invasive species here in Maine, they began to take root in fields and fencerows, but their lovely blossoms and bright berries fail to redeem the damage they cause with their… Continue reading Why You Need to Have a Thorough Knowledge of Scripture
Greasy fingers met in a communal popcorn bowl, and laughter overpowered the details of dialogue: “Hey, somebody rewind! I missed that line!” It was family movie night, and the flickering image on the screen played second fiddle to the allure of an extended bedtime. With cold pizza congealing at room temperature on the coffee table,… Continue reading 3 Wise Filters that Will Improve Your Entertainment Choices
The word narrow has taken on an ugly cast in modern parlance. Its neutral usage is defined as "something that is considerably longer or higher than it is wide." It describes parking spaces, the bridge on my road, and hipsters' ties. Narrow is also used to refer to something limited or restricted—the worst possible evil… Continue reading What Do Christians Mean by Choosing the Narrow Way?
A studio upright sat by the door, but the small piano was truly the centerpiece of Helen's apartment. A widow transitioning from married to single, from missionary to retiree, she poured sadness out the tips of her fingers, and the wealth of words absorbed over seven decades found their way into melancholy melodies. Helen introduced… Continue reading Whatever Made You Think the Christian Life Would Be Easy?
The Golden Rule as Jesus has phrased it is one more example of Jesus’s rejection of bare-minimum obedience. Jesus has called us to a deeper obedience whose focus is character and motive—not simply actions.
My first hospitality disaster looked like a blueberry pie, but once I cut into it, I could see it was clearly a blueberry soup enclosed in a pie crust. I hope I served it with ice cream, but even if I did, nothing can take the sting out of that memory. Thanks be to God,… Continue reading Recovering Hospitality as a Vital Aspect of the Christian Life
Social media hadn't been invented yet (thank heavens!) when my kids were very small, and I had never heard of the term #minime, but if I had, one of my sons would definitely have qualified for the role. Given the similarity of our temperaments, one would imagine a high degree of mutual sympathy, a level… Continue reading Parents, Have You Found The Balance Between Judgment And Compassion?
The church has fallen on hard times, and there's no denying that some of the bad press has been well-earned by churches with broken leadership structures, a show-biz mentality, and pastors who prey on their congregations more than they pray for them. Even so, it's hard to get through the New Testament without doing business… Continue reading 3 Reasons You Should Go to Church this Sunday
Living Our Days 