When David was fleeing from King Saul, long before he was crowned king himself, he ended up in a cave in the wilderness called Abdullam, which means “fortress” or “refuge.” While there, as improbable as it seemed, he gathered to himself a group of 400 men ready to follow him. Their “qualifications” weren’t exactly what [...]
We’re not sure how Jesus was feeling when He said it. Was He sad? Frustrated? Stressed out? Or just lamenting? Whatever the case, it was a heads-up moment for His disciples—a foretaste of what lay ahead for them. In Luke 12:50 Jesus says, “I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under [...]
Picture the scene with me. Jesus has risen from the dead, validating His claim to be God in the flesh. He’s appeared to more than 500 people in the past 40 days (1 Corinthians 15:6) and now He’s gathered together His remaining disciples to give them their new assignment: something we call the Great Commission. [...]
For centuries, the classic question about causality has been Which Came First … the Chicken or the Egg? Dilemmas like these arise when we can’t discern which of two events should be considered the cause and which considered the effect. When we try to figure it out through human reasoning we often get it wrong. [...]
How predictable is your faith walk? Here’s why I ask. A well-known adage goes like this: High predictability = Low Impact; Low predictability = High impact. I think most of us would agree with this; generally speaking, we remember best events that came as a complete surprise or appeared in some new way. This is [...]
Jesus, our Lord, who died and rose again, is now sitting on His throne of glory—the highest place in heaven. Angels, elders, and living creatures encircle His throne, shouting “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (Rev. 5:12). Yet, we [...]
I was old enough to know better when I made a risky decision. I was out with friends and started talking with a guy from another high school who was bowling next to us. By the end of the evening, we were getting along so well that, when he offered to drive me home, I [...]
My son Sky has always liked machines and big challenges. One vivid memory I have is of him driving our tractor across the field as Tony and I threw bales onto the hay wagon. Sky was only six or seven years old, so his feet barely reached the pedals. But he was grinning from ear [...]
In the aftermath of Derek Chauvin’s trial (the man convicted of killing George Floyd) many of us are wondering What is our role as followers of Jesus in all of this? Is social injustice an important enough cause to join forces with the world to overcome? Are we in fact negligent in our Christian duty [...]
When Mel Gibson’s movie came out (The Passion of the Christ) some might have been confused by the title, because the word passion is used today mostly to describe sex or something else we especially enjoy. “He has a passion for sailing,” we hear, or “she’s passionate about her work with kids.” But for centuries [...]
Adventuring with God 