Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
I learned orienteering in the Army. It takes a wilderness, a map, and a compass. My brother Dave gave me a superb compass after he picked up on my interest. So the compass and a Bible are both set out in my living room as directional treasures. The Bible gives spiritual direction. It’s the one …
Read More The WayThis is the title for an article I wrote in January 1987—a how-to for Bible reading and reading partnerships. It’s now a sidebar item on this site. So my question. Is an invitation to bold Bible reading still relevant? Recently two university students made me wonder. After church, I took them to lunch and asked, …
Read More “Make this the year!”Early this morning, at 6:30, I got a call from Rick in Africa. He knew I’d moved to Idaho earlier this year after a trip to the beach to pray about the prospect. So he asked how to encourage Nigerian pastors to go on prayer quests. It’s afternoon by now and he’s waiting for an …
Read More With JesusDecades 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 …
Read More Make this the year!Grocery stores can have bad moments. Think of a bad orange in a produce bin. Part of the skin is collapsing into a grey-green paste, with a white ring spreading around it. A good orange, on the other hand, is a joy. Years ago I volunteered on an Israeli kibbutz for six months to study …
Read More AbidingAll Scriptures are “God breathed”—given by God to change us (2 Tim. 3:16). So, for anyone ready for spiritual formation, try this: read all of John’s gospel in a single sitting. With a print Bible to mark-up. You can read the whole in three hours or less. Pick a quiet time and place. Maybe away …
Read More Jesus on Believing, 1 of 5This blog is for any reader who wants to get to know God better. Why not take this season of isolation as a Godsend—as a chance to spend time with him? Through bold Bible reading? On Monday I met with Greg by video connection. He’s pastor of Harvest Community Church, near my home. He had …
Read More Seeking GodI’m reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s little book, Life Together, on Christian community. He promoted reading the Bible as a whole. It’s something worth noting. He wrote that narrow readings—reflecting on just one or two verses—will always have value. It allows believers to discover the depth available in any part of the Bible. But this approach can’t …
Read More Bonhoeffer on Bible ReadingWhat was Adam thinking in Eden when Eve handed him a forbidden fruit? It came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God told him to avoid. But he ate it anyway. And here the mystery lies. How did he, a man without any prior moral fault, dismiss God’s words in …
Read More Words and FaithLast week I was with a church outreach in Guatemala. We used an autorefractor supplied by Global Eyeglass Ministries to examine eyes of hundreds of local Guatemalans. And with that we also had many used and donated eyeglasses to match needs through a computer program. Once we had a match we gave the eyeglasses as …
Read More A new view of life