Category: The Spiritual Life

Empty Eyes

I sailed on the Queen Mary 2 recently. The first morning out I sat in the library watching waves reach to the horizon, with companion clouds. A few seabirds floated above the ship’s bow. It was a quiet, pleasant scene. But after an hour boredom came trolling. A ship on the ocean is all too …

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You & me together

The Spirit is God’s bond of love. It’s who he is and what he does. Yet he’s fully personal, with feelings, intentions, and actions. He prefers transparency in his role of elevating others, in forming union, and sustaining unity. So the Father loves the Son, and the Son in turn loves the Father, with the …

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Make this the year!

Decades ago, in 1987, I sent an article on Bible reading off to a magazine [the Moody Monthly] and it was published. I’ve maintained a slightly updated version on a separate page of this site as “Bible read throughs.” I’ve now scrubbed it up a bit, but without changing the basic content. Here’s the new …

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Dependent Hearts

How does faith reshape our appetite for freedom? Freedom has been a human ambition from Adam and Eve onward. It’s ironic, given our deep reliance on others: in being birthed and raised; in learning; in work, family, and daily needs; and in our final interment. There is a healthy impulse to leave home to enter …

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New Identities

[I published an earlier version today. I wasn’t satisfied with it; so here’s my revision] What is an identity? Informally, we call it the “self” that anchors our unique view of life. It’s home to our core motives and deepest values. It determines why we do what we do. In Christian history a common basis …

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