Last night, a band of dangerous thunderstorms moved through our area and brought with them high winds and tornados. It was a harrowing time for some people and the damage while isolated, was significant. As is typical of these times of natural destruction, the pain and destruction were deemed, “an act of God,” by media and others. It is interesting that God gets the blame […]
Our church is currently in the midst of our annual stewardship program. This is an important part of our life together where we consider what it means to be a steward of all God gives us, and where we encourage each other to embrace more of what the Holy Spirit is asking of us. This is not about “getting people’s money,” instead; we are looking […]
What would you do if you truly believed all things are possible with God? Early this morning, while I was still up wrestling with the symptoms of a sinus infection I am fighting, I made a decision to jump into the middle of the river. No, I am not planning on literally getting wet, but figuratively, I am in up to my neck and it […]
I have many favorite hymns, but one of them is definitely “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” The hymn always touched me but recently, it became even more meaningful. There is a stanza in this classic hymn that includes the words, “He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free.” I cannot begin to imagine how many times I sang these […]
When I lead mission trips, one of the key tools I take with me are journals. I encourage each member of the team to keep a personal journal where they can write memories and insights then reflect upon them in prayer to see if they can sense the Holy Spirit leading them to a deeper understanding of themselves, of God and of their experience. I […]
“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:22 Twenty-seven years ago, I awoke in a Pittsburgh hotel a married man. The previous day was a flurry of activity leading up to our wedding, and after celebrating with family and friends, and making time to visit a few of our relatives who could not come to […]
“In the coming days, I will be sharing some suggestions to help encourage and empower your study.” I remember writing those words, surprisingly weeks ago. I would love to tell you that my time was filled with study; digging into great spiritual depth, but that would be a lie. In the days that followed my last post, church life, family life, even community life became amazingly […]
Sometimes real beauty can only be discovered by adversity. When we go through the fire, common things are refined into something uncommon. Challenge and pain can uncover hidden virtues, passions, and possibilities. Watching nature transition from the luscious life of summer to the vibrant beauty of autumn, it is hard to miss that a deeper beauty is revealed in the process of letting go. As […]
Writing yesterday’s post was troubling. Not only because the subject matter was painful, but because the issue of hatred and bullying is so overwhelming. I could not help but feel there was more to consider. Whenever one of these tragedies occurs, there is a sudden outburst of emotion by people troubled by horror of what happened, accompanied by reflections on how we can stop or […]
“If only my situation was different; then I would be able to praise God.” This belief is very common. We often believe that our attitudes about life and even about God are the result of our circumstances. When things are going well, we feel good, we feel close to God and we believe God is active in our lives. When things become more difficult, more […]