Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
This week I was reminded that I share a very small feature of life with Charles, Prince of Wales. We have lived the same number of years. By almost every other measure I have little in common with his royal highness. The difference is summed up by the rubric of nobility. He’s a nobleman and …
Read More Joining the nobilityThis week included two separate experiences. I read from Job and I had a vivid dream of an earthquake. Let me link them here in a single reflection on God’s greatness in the face of human self-confidence. I’ll start with the earthquake dream. In the dream I saw a hillside in motion as I …
Read More My Vivid DreamCommunity offers communion and communion builds community. It’s a circular statement, I know, but my aim is to point to the circularity–the reciprocity–of relationships. Every authentic relationship grows within the milieu of mutual exchange: we speak and we listen. We listen and we speak. We care and we receive care. Souls become bonded into a …
Read More CommunionOne certainty in life is a baby’s taste for milk. No prolonged training is needed! And it’s as true of babies in India as in Oregon . . . or anywhere else. Yesterday as I toured the Taj Mahal I noticed dozens of Indian mothers and their infants present among the throngs of tourists. The …
Read More A taste for GodIsaiah should be read relationally, as God’s heartfelt gift to us. His self-disclosure. His invitation. A resource from his heart meant to awaken our hearts. Three chapters are especially powerful. Read them and see for yourself: 52, 53, and 54. In chapter 52 the LORD speaks to his people in their captivity. First the slavery …
Read More Three chapters in IsaiahI know I need to live by faith. It goes with being saved by faith. And the size of my faith may play a role in my being saved, given what Jesus said about having faith the size of a mustard seed. I know, too, that I need to grow in faith. That’s because …
Read More Living by faithA good friend recently raised a question in light of my emphasis on the heart as the center of the soul. It was about the role of choosing. “I have heard,” he wrote, “teachers and preachers [who insist] that love is a choice.” He added some quotes from an unidentified devotional piece that I’ll offer …
Read More Choosing to rule my emotions?In my college days I spent a summer piloting a fishing boat in and around Ketchikan, Alaska. In learning the job I recall my first extended shift of piloting by myself as we traveled up from Seattle to Ketchikan. We followed the scenic but often narrow “inside passage” among the islands just off the Canadian …
Read More “In the beginning God . . .”“Who” James asked, “is wise and understanding among you?” [James 3:13] This is in the same letter that all but began with an invitation to wisdom: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” It’s interesting that …
Read More WisdomJesus wrapped up a parable about a scheming and dishonest business manager by saying, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” [Luke 16] This is what we …
Read More On Finding A Comfortable Home