I have been heart-broken to see the images and hear the stories coming out of one of my favorite adoptive towns. Boston is a city that I spent a lot of time in during my eight years in Massachusetts and a city that Karen and I came to love immensely. Yesterday was just the latest…
Tag: Hope
Walking in the Shadow of the Resurrection
Easter’s over, the crowds have dispersed, eggs found, rabbits eaten, services conducted, Monday came and went…now what? Maybe the answer lies in how Monday went. Did it seem like Easter to you? Were you walking in the shadow of the Resurrection? Was it filled with hope and grace, forgiveness and joy? It’s so easy to…
Have You Met My Friend? His Name is Todd.
Todd is a dear friend of mine with some of the most amazing talent I’ve ever personally experienced. A singer-songwriter with a gift for identifying the most important things in life and putting them to music, Todd can have you laughing one second and crying the next.
Giving Pause: Taking Action When Conviction comes
Something happened to me Sunday just before I got up to speak at The Gathering. Clearly, the Spirit of God was working through the time of worship and I had the impression that we needed to pause…I knew I needed to pause. Things weren’t right. Earlier that morning, I had gotten upset with my 12…
Saving Daylight, Part 2: Loving Well
Over the last few days, my thoughts have been consumed by a lovely lady within our church who is nearing the end of her journey on earth. I’ve thought about the relationship she has had with her devoted husband for 63 years and the love they have shared. I’ve thought about how over the last…
Quiet the Chaos
Do you ever get to that place where you get so busy and so stressed that all you want to do is climb in a corner and hibernate? Or cry? Or drink five Monsters and end it all right there? You feel like you’re at the end of the thread that’s hanging off the end…
A song for the wilderness. I talk a lot about “The Wilderness.” All of us experience it and often we have no idea why we’re there or how or when we’ll ever get out. We ask a reasonable question: “If God loves me, why doesn’t He deliver me?” Well, I’ve often said that God is…
Signpost for the Wilderness:
“Help me to see that although I am in the wilderness, it is not all briars and barrenness. I have bread from heaven, streams from the rock, light by day, fire by night, thy dwelling place and thy mercy seat. I am sometimes discouraged by the way, but though winding and trying, it is safe…
A Cry for Deliverance
”Enable me to recognize my death unto sin; When it tempts me, may I be deaf unto its voice. Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin.” ~ excerpt from The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan…
You Hold Me Now
Thinking of friends experiencing deep hurts and going through terrible challenges right now. Praying they can feel Christ holding them as they do.
Trusting When It Counts
Most of my married life has been one of uncertainty. I’m not talking about my marriage, specifically, but rather the circumstances we have been in most of our life together. Two years after Karen and I were married, we were called up to New England, uncertain of what we were to do, why specifically we…
Reflections
I was looking through some posts on my old blog and came across the one from two years ago (tomorrow) after a good friend of mine died suddenly. The points I made then as I dealt with the loss seem very appropriate now in processing emotions and stress and considering “legacy”. I thought I would…
Something’s Stirring at The Gathering
I’m not exactly sure what it is yet, but I get a strong sense that God is beginning to move within The Gathering, which could result in a revival, an awakening, and a growth spirt like we’ve never experienced before.
Trivial Pursuits
…there is something that has been put within us that wants to care for others. In this, we find satisfaction and a purpose beyond ourselves. Yet, there is something that doesn’t quite seem completely satisfying if we stop and think that anything we do for an individual is temporary at best. All I’m doing is giving a little comfort for a short term. That can make all of our work still feel somewhat futile. What if there is more?
Grace Really Is Amazing
I had a conversation the other day with a very dear friend of mine who has recently begun a steep, uphill battle with cancer. Though the prognosis is not great, his outlook is. I was amazed as I listened to him describe the ordeal that lies in front of him and to hear him tell me of the grace of God that was instantly manifested in his life.
Doubt-Less – 1 John 3:19-24
Have you ever had serious doubts about your salvation? I think we all have from time-to-time. Sometimes they’re well founded because it is possible to spend an entire lifetime going to church, doing all the religious ritual stuff, “doing good,” never having entered into a saving knowledge of Jesus (beyond head knowledge to the heart…
