Happy end-of-summer to you! I am writing to you from the epicenter of what everyone has decided to call a heat dome this year. It has been hot in Texas this summer - really hot - but we made it through! It is actually quite funny to witness the aftermath. Most of our area got a glorious rain shower earlier this week, breaking that oppressive heat pattern, and now everyone is smiling, everywhere you go. The positive and optimistic people are relieved and whistling, and even the perennially grumpy people are just a little less grumpy because it is only a normal 97 degrees instead of 107. 

There is something so powerful about HOPE.
​When we keep it close, we are filled with God's peace and power.
​When we lose sight of it, we are severely weakened. 

Our anger and anxiety are also spiritual in nature, as we are influenced by the lack of faith all around us. No one can long stand with one foot on the dock and one foot on the untethered boat; this amounts to having a form of godliness, but denying its power. But too many Christians are letting the skepticism and cynicism of the world around them inform their decisions and actions. I have noticed so many people say things that begin with, “I know what the Bible says, but…”, and then fill in the blank with a reason they cannot possibly really believe or act on what the Bible says.

I know what the Bible says, but…

-I will not forgive him for what he did.

-I cannot believe that God is my provider.

-If God was really good, ______ would not be happening.

​and so on. Too many Christians have mistakenly gone with the flow of our culture, trying to put hope and faith in things that could never bear it - people, places, and things - and then fall off the dock when the inevitable let down comes. Too many Christians have believed the lie that because those people and things can't be trusted, nothing at all can be trusted. The whole point of our faith is that there is ONLY ONE Who can be trusted to never leave, forsake, or fail.

If you’d like to spend some more time reading and thinking about the power of hope in our Christian communities, please check out my new book, available now - 

Five years ago, when this blog was launched, seems like a lifetime ago in so many ways. Our family has grown since then, with a new son-in-law added to our fold and several precious grandchildren born. Our life, which had been roughly the same for so many years, has changed quite a lot, with a different home and ministry assignments, with the emptying of our nest, and with the relocation of people we love dearly. My hair is quite a lot more gray, my wrinkles are more deep set, and my body frequently lets me know I’m not getting any younger. I am sure that the same is true in your life - five years goes by in a blink but contains so much living. 

Collectively, we endured the strange Covid era, which was certainly a marker for this whole generation. Regardless of political perspective, we are just now beginning to see the ramifications of pushing pause on society for a year or more, all the while upping the volume on fear and uncertainty in every way. It doesn’t seem that we have emerged from that time in a better place as a whole. 

I am aware now that my over-50 status gives me a particular vantage point with my own cohort and those ahead of us - we can really remember what things were like before. Working with university students all of our adult lives has accentuated this to me. I feel like a covered wagon, Oregon trail participant because I know what the convenience store name 7-11 stands for, I remember when we had to wait patiently for radio stations and movie theaters to release new things, and I remember when there were only 3 tv channels. I can remember when all 3 of those stations used to play the national anthem and then cut to static every night at midnight, meaning there was nothing at all to watch mindlessly until morning, especially before VCRs came along. I remember when nothing was open on Sundays, when there was no such thing as an ATM or a debit card, and when answering machines were invented. More than that, I know my parents’ stories and experiences from their lives, and can remember what my grandmother’s stories told me about her generation and her own life that began in 1900. It isn’t just a myth that life used to be a little slower and less frantic, more relational and less virtual. The world is always changing!

I also vividly remember life BP - before phone. I was 29 years old when I got my first cell phone, and it could only text and make calls. I was in my late 30s when I got my first smart phone. I lived a lot of life, even adult life, before that little device entered my life. I do love it because now the best camera I’ve ever had, plus my phone, address book, flashlight, travel atlas, years of photos, and an entire encyclopedia set can fit into my purse. But it isn’t as innocuous as it looks. Five years ago, no one was sure how much the constant, instant access to the glories and horrors of the World Wide Web was impacting everyone, but now all of us who can remember life BP can see clearly what those things are doing to young people, and it isn’t great. Worst of all is the fact that when being glued to a screen has been normal to a person since they were very small, they might never know that what they’ve ingested for tens of thousands of hours isn't true after all, or that life can be any different or better than just virtual reality. 

I am even more convinced of the need for us to share from one generation to another - not just of social things, but especially of our faith. 

The 80s were such a great time to be a young person - I mean, as long as you take away the real and constant threat of the Cold War and the fact that we actually had regular drills at school in case a nuclear bomb was coming our way. Not one kid ever thought our plywood desk was going to keep us safe from an atomic bomb, as long as we ducked and covered in time! Thank goodness there was no social media then - we would have all been terrified, all the time. But aside from that, the 80s were amazing. The energy and optimism of Whitney Houston and Rocky Balboa and Back to the Future marked our generation.

So how sad it was to see one of our greatest action heroes of that era recently announce to the world that he doesn’t believe in eternal life at all, let alone in God. Like so many others alive today, he believes this is it; that all we have is today, and no promise at all of tomorrow or forever. When a person believes that, it marks and changes everything they do. When an entire society believes that, it will radically alter a culture that was originally built upon the foundation of Biblical Truth. If this is it, why not do everything only for my own pleasure, safety, and benefit? And why not be terribly afraid of or angry at everything that threatens life, pleasure, and safety?  And if people really believe this is all there is, no wonder so many people are so frustrated, anxious, and confused about life and its meaning. ​

As followers of Jesus, we believe that this present reality is not all there is to life. Life here and now is very real and very important, but mostly because it determines what the rest of forever will be like. We were all created by God and in His image, with souls that will live forever. We are all carefully and purposefully created by God to be a beautiful and thriving part of His great, eternal story. This means that we don’t have to live like today is all we’ve got - instead, we can live knowing that the best is still yet to come. We don’t have to live in fear of losing our lives, because God holds our lives in His hands. We don’t have to make sure we just look out for #1, because God is looking out for us. We can actually love and care for others, even at our own expense, because He has shown us how to do it.  We can thrive no matter what good, bad, or ugly things life on this broken planet throws our way, knowing that God works all things for the good of those who love and trust Him.

We must take care to let capital-T Truth inform our lives, and not whatever fickle social consensus has decided is true for today. We must take care to combat the relentless barrage of information being fed to us each day from sources that are sometimes just uninformed, but sometimes actually malicious. We must purpose in our hearts and minds not to engage in toxic things, or to just mindlessly scroll, but rather to think of whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. We must take care to put our minds on God and His Word, to live our lives in view of eternity, and to care for others rather than only for ourselves. 

More than ever, the people in our lives need us to live like we believe the claims of Jesus to be true, and to demonstrate the power of hearts and lives revolutionized by the love and grace of Christ. Everyone gets more than enough of this world that is full of endless negative comments, lies and rumors and innuendo, tearing down of one another, and outright hopelessness - no wonder so many people are lonely, anxious, and depressed! Our family, friends, and neighbors need to see the transformation that Jesus can make in our hearts and lives - real love, forgiveness, freedom, kindness, peace, and hope. I pray God's peace and presence over your life today, as you realize more and more how your life fits into His amazing story of forgiveness and redemption! ​

Some new features have been added to the blog - 

Keep your eyes on this space, as more is to come! For now, there is a new section called Grow, in which I will occasionally add a resource that has been meaningful to me, and that I'd love to recommend. Paying attention to our spiritual health and growth is vital, and there are some wonderful helps out there. Please take a minute to visit this new section.

Also new is the Books section, just in time for the release of my second book, available now! You can find ordering information there, or by following the link below. 

This past weekend, something fun and unique happened in our culture. Much of the country was focused on two movies which happened to debut on the same weekend. In this day of have-it-your-way right away, and an overload of personalized choices wherever you go, it is actually unusual for so many of us to be aware of the same thing at the same time. So even just in this sense, the two-movie weekend was a good thing for our often divided country. 


These two movies could not have been more different, at least on the surface.  Barbie wins the day for promotional prowess, with bright pink, sunny cheerfulness everywhere in the year leading up to the debut. Oppenheimer, in contrast, is gloomy and dark and somber, both in media and in storyline. One deals with fantasyland, and the other with something more real-life-and-death than any of us ever wanted. But upon closer inspection and introspection, it turns out that they are about exactly the same thing - the fact that the world is broken and needs fixing. 


Most of us spend much of our lives dealing with the harsh reality that life is just not easy. There are moments, even seasons of relative peace and plenty in most of our lives, but no matter where you live or what your family history entails, life is most often filled with a maze of difficult relationships and situations to navigate. None of us can escape conflict, whether it be world-war scale ideology versus ideology, nation against nation, tribe against tribe, us against them, all the way down to a very personal me versus you…”this is my dream house, not yours.”


Making matters worse is the deeply embedded idea that life should be easy, and could be easy, if only everyone else would cooperate. But it is so interesting to consider how differently we all think! We do not have the same opinions or tastes. We do not have the same experiences or perspectives. Even people who were born to the same parents and grew up in the exact same home can be as different as night and day. Some people think we should all hop out of bed, and not waste a single second of the day until we get back in bed at the end of day, while others are dizzied by such behavior and think things should be significantly slower paced. Some want everyone to be dressed formally, while others rejoice at the comfort of athleisure wear.  Some love classical music, while others love rap. NASCAR versus a polo match, chocolate or vanilla, Coke or Pepsi - this could go on for days. Some of us love pineapple on pizza, mayonnaise on sandwiches, and nothing spicy on anything, while others think all of those things are fighting words.


Our tastes and perspectives are so different! We all know this, we see this every day in almost every conversation we have. Yet, every one of us are continually shocked that not everyone around thinks exactly the same way as me. Still we somehow forge ahead, believing that peace will be achieved when everyone finally thinks and acts exactly like we do. Everyone is limited by this same self-centered perspective. We can only see what we can see, and from where we’re standing, our way looks better than everyone else’s. Each of us is afflicted with a common malady - selfishness. 


So, everyone can agree that the world is broken and needs fixing, but what is the solution? Here come the disagreements again. Some would say more money can fix things, but then we argue endlessly whether the capitalists or communists have got the right idea. Some would say that better education might help, but then we can’t agree on what the curricula or faculties should be like. Many hope that politics and good governance might help, but the divisions in thinking here are so vast as to be nearly laughable. Then there is religion - but that especially gets so complicated and messy so fast, and there are as many opinions around the world to which way is the right way as there are flavors of ice cream. No matter what solution is offered, someone will always think it was a poor choice, or that everyone is doing it incorrectly. 

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As different as both of the aforementioned movies seem, they actually agree that the world is broken. But who can fix it? Again, a question that leads to so much disagreement. One of the movies last week decided that the people who had a turn had really messed things up, so let the other group have a shot, no matter the cost or resultant dissonance. In the second movie, the solution was scientists developing ethically complex and terrifying weaponry to attempt to keep everyone in the world from going any further down the road to destruction, and everyone is still arguing whether it should have been done or not. It seems we will never agree on who ought to make an attempt to make things better. Should it be the Boomers or the Millennials, the left or the right, the poor or the rich, the east or the west, and on and on? No matter who tries to help, someone will always think the attempt was severely lacking and missed the mark. 


Eight billion people alive today, all saddled with a self-centered perspective and point of view. A broken planet full of strife and suffering, with no agreement on the horizon of what should be done to make things better or by whom. We keep on looking to the same things to fix our problems  - money, education, governance, strict adherence to the rules of religion, science and technology, military might, yet our problems remain. Now we have added 24/7 access to the internet and algorithms working overtime to keep us feeling that everyone else is doing everything wrong.


Are we doomed? Should we all just give up trying to fix our broken world?

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Jesus Christ has come to take away the sin and selfishness of the world. Emmanuel, God with us, imparts His own righteousness to us, replacing our hard hearts of stone with new, soft hearts. By the Holy Spirit, our selfish perspective is changed to an others-focused perspective. By God’s grace, when I come to Him and surrender my selfish will, He fills my heart and life with beautiful, fruitful things - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Jesus gives us the very thing we need, but can never give ourselves - a spiritual change of heart. He helps us to be able to truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even if they think or look or act really differently than we do.

​Now, imagine how wonderful it might be if there was a whole group of people in every land and village who were set free from the tyranny of selfishness, and could see that every one of their neighbors, near and far, were just as valuable as themselves. Think what it could be like if a group of people like this stopped expecting everyone, everywhere to think exactly like themselves, and just introduced others to Jesus. He could give so many others new hearts, too, and by His Spirit could bring out the very best in each person. Soon, it would be a world made better by people with hearts filled with love and forgiveness, hope and joy, care and concern; with people who can and will help one another, and who can appreciate and respect the image of God stamped on every life. 

This is God’s great plan to fix the broken world. God loves every one of the wildly different people on the planet - He is the One who made us with such different preferences and ways of thinking! He sent His Son who willingly gave His life so that anyone who will accept Him can be set free. Now He fills us with His Holy Spirit and sends us out to share the great news with everyone in our lives. We are a big part of His plan. 

So please don’t give up! No matter how dark things get, no matter how rampant sin and selfishness run, keep letting the love and light of Jesus shine through your life. Everyone around you needs to know of God’s great love…

How amazing that the Lord of All gives us the dignity to be a part of His plan! I’m so pleased to offer a new book to you over this very subject. Of course, I hope you will read it and be blessed as an individual, but even better would be to read it with a group of friends. There has never been a better time for followers of Jesus to have a healthy understanding of God’s purpose and plan, and how each of our lives fits into His story. This is the perfect time for people who want to help this broken world to enter into discussion about what that could look like in our own homes and communities. ​

Click this link to preorder your copy of Living Stones today! 

Some of the best times in life take place with our feet underneath a table. Just last week, celebrating the 4th of July and the independence of our nation, we gathered with much of our family and shared a wonderful meal. The food was delicious, but the company was even better. We told old stories, and shared new ones. We laughed together, and sympathized with one another. We are all especially enjoying the addition of a whole new generation to the family - the littlest ones among us bring a new delight and wonder to everything we might consider commonplace. Seeing their eyes light up as they enjoy strawberry ice cream for the first time, or as they watch simple glowing sparklers, provides something nourishing to our souls.

Another time last fall, we were able to have dinner with a good friend of mine from high school and her husband. At a reunion like that, the years roll back and fellowship is so joyful and encouraging. And just a month ago, we gathered on the other side of the country with longtime friends for an annual visit. We feasted, but it was more than celebrating the wonderful food: it was a celebration of life and friendship and hope for the future. Nobody wants to get up and leave a table like that. The very presence of God is with us as we dine together. 

​Think of all of the best meals you have ever had - I can think of so many lovely gatherings, can’t you? And they don’t always happen around holidays and special celebrations. I am thinking of one dinner in particular, with some good friends who had been going through a frightening rough patch in their marriage. They braved the storm to come sit at our table with us, and the Lord helped us all have such a delightful evening together. Rather than focus on the difficult time we were all well aware of, as we ate we remembered good things from the past, and dreamed of hopeful things for the future. It felt so good to laugh and to share happiness and hope together that night, and I am so grateful to God to say that their marriage has weathered that hard time. I can think of other meals shared when tragedy had struck someone’s life. Life is certainly not always easy, but even the most difficult burdens can be eased when we share them with one another. Even when there is no “happy ending”, or at least not the one we might have wished for at the time, something about being together and vocalizing the truths and realities of Jesus and His Kingdom fills our hearts with courage and fortitude. 


This is not just a coincidence. I am convinced that God wants us to share meals together, and often. In our fast paced, fast food, and single serving meal kind of world, it is a good idea to slow down and consider this. God created us with the need to refuel every few hours. He also made us to have taste buds, while He made possible all the delicious things out there to eat and drink - bread, cheese, smoked salmon, berries, chocolate, lattes, lemonade… the list goes on and on! Built in to humanity are both the need to eat and the ability to enjoy the fulfillment of that need. Also built in is the wonder, mystery, and delight of interdependence. We need God and we need one another. How lovely when those needs can all converge on such a regular basis as we break bread together! 


Notice how frequently the Word of God mentions tables and meals…
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-In Egypt, Joseph’s table is laden high with food and drink for his brothers, and five times as much given to his mother’s youngest son, Benjamin. The graciousness and generosity of God is displayed through this meal; recall the brothers didn’t yet know it was Joseph, or that God had turned what they meant for evil in his life to everyone’s good.


-The Tabernacle in the wilderness had a special table, covered in gold and laden with golden dishes and implements, that was to have the bread of the Presence on it at all times. God's table is always open and available, and is always beautiful and nourishing. 


-The cycle of the year as prescribed in the law was to revolve around seven special multi-day feasts, ordained by God. In striking contrast, the law called for far fewer times of national fasting. God has made the world and us for His pleasure, and invites us frequently to join Him in His pleasure and celebration. 


-David’s royal table always had a seat for Mephibosheth, the crippled grandson of Saul, the complicated king who tried to kill David many times. According to the world’s code, every one of your enemy’s relations should be wiped out to ensure your own security, but according to God, forgiveness and friendship make a reserved seat at the royal table. David, the man after God’s own heart, wrote more about the Lord’s table in one of the most familiar and beloved psalms, Psalm 23. It is thought that he wrote that song as an old man looking back on a life lived with the fellowship and presence of God - the Lord who is both the Good Shepherd and Gracious King, Who prepares a place at His table, even in the presence of enemies.


-The beautiful bride in the Song of Solomon, a book understood to be both an individual love story as well as a picture of God’s love for His people, sings of the banqueting table her beloved has prepared for her. It is laden with choice delicacies, and the banner hanging over it spells out LOVE. Think of every wedding feast you have ever been to, and of the special table reserved for the wedding party - God is preparing a setting like that for us!
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​Then came Jesus, Emmanuel and God the Son, who shows us just what the Father is like. He spent a lot of time eating and drinking with others, so much so that His enemies and detractors thought it was suspicious. They didn’t think anyone holy should be spending so much time in fellowshipping with others around a table. Evidently Jesus didn’t agree. He ate with His friends, He ate with sinners and tax collectors, and He ate with self-righteous religious people. He had an impromptu picnic with thousands of people, barbecued on the beach, and even invited Himself and His disciples to a man’s house for lunch one day. It seems there was rarely an opportunity missed to spend time with others around a meal. 


Even on the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread and the cup from the table they were gathered around, and blessed them. The God who wants us to be careful to purposely and regularly remember the vital and important things in life, blessed the bread and said, “‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Now, certainly when we gather for worship and to celebrate communion, but also every time we break bread together, we can remember what the Lord has done and what He has promised to do. 


His table is open to all who will come; there is a seat reserved just for you. God’s table is laden with good, beautiful, nourishing things - with fresh daily bread and new mercies each morning. You are wanted, eagerly expected, and there is no hurried rush at God's table. Enjoy His presence, enjoy His company and delight, enjoy His goodness. Our own tables can reflect this wondrous truth. We can put courage and hope into one another’s hearts as we eat and talk and fellowship, with the Lord Himself always at the head of every table we put our feet under.

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​Our faith can be strengthened as we remember how His body was broken so that our bodies could be made whole, and as we remember that His blood was shed as a sacrifice once and for all of our sins. The table is the place we can encourage and uplift one another; where we can laugh and cry and hope and dream with one another until the Lord returns. Then, on that beautiful day, we will gather at the last table the Bible mentions for the marriage supper of the Lamb, where His shining banner of love will be over and around us forever. 


Until then, when we set the table for a meal, let’s recognize the presence of Jesus with us as we gather, and let’s set a couple of extra places to invite some friends and neighbors! May the Lord bless and keep you this week and always - 

I am so grateful and pleased to announce that my new book, Living Stones, is now available for pre-order! What a wonderful time for followers of Jesus to engage together in a Biblically-based conversation about healthy Christian community. This book is designed for personal and group study, and is available for purchase here:

Have you ever been in the middle of a fight? Maybe it was you participating in the ugly words and ever-escalating recriminations, or maybe you were just caught in the middle - either way, it leaves such a sad, sinking feeling. How can we treat one another so poorly? How can we get caught in that irrational and pain-inducing trap, time and time again? These situations can seem so surreal, as if someone was forcing us to be a part of a badly written soap opera. But, sadly, these situations are all too real. Very few of us live idyllic lives of continual peace and prosperity; for so many, much of life can seem like a reality show.
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​But there is hope! Recently as we were praying together, my husband asked that God would help us both to be happy, holy, healthy, and hopeful. I thought those words were so lovely and striking, and remembered something important - those words describe the very nature and character of God, and He helps us to become like Him! This world that we live in is broken, but God has not forsaken us or left us alone in the dark.


Consider the following verse…

An argument could be made that there is no more striking title for God than this, The God of Jacob. 

It’s easy to think of calling Him the God of Abraham, the faithful friend,
Or the God of Moses, the humble deliverer,
Or the God of David, the man after God’s own heart,
Or the God of Daniel, the beloved servant of God and man.


But of Jacob? 
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The fact that quite a number of the fathers and mothers of our faith were so screwed up makes me love and trust the Bible so much. If our religion was about people reaching up to find God of their own accord, surely the story of Jacob could and would have been airbrushed a little. Instead, just a quick glance at his life reveals how dysfunctional Jacob and his family really were. His experience could have been a reality show - maybe Keeping up with the Abrahamsons, or Real Housewives of the Ancient World!
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​Jacob was born in a fight with his twin brother. The Bible says that the babies were always jostling in their mother’s womb, and that Jacob was delivered actually grasping the heel of his moments-older brother, Esau. Esau grew up to be focused on material things and quite robust, and did masculine things like hunting and fighting. In contrast, we read that Jacob, though more spiritually minded than his brother, was a conniving, soft, and coddled momma’s boy. On one occasion, he got Esau to sell his entire birthright inheritance to him for a bowl of soup. Another time, Jacob tricked his dying father into giving him the blessing reserved for Esau by dressing himself up to smell and feel like his outdoorsy older brother. Interestingly, these two events happened when Jacob was likely well into his seventies and then over eighty, respectively - not exactly silly kid stuff. He was firmly stuck in some poor lifetime habits of thought and action. 


After tricking his father and once again cheating his brother, Jacob had to run for his life to his mother’s people. There he encountered Laban, a man even more awful and dysfunctional than himself, and promptly fell head-over-heels in love with that man’s daughter. He was out-tricked by his new father-in-law both into marrying the older sister of the woman he actually loved, and then into working for years for doing so. So, in true reality show fashion, Jacob worked even longer to marry the younger sister and brought a couple of maidservants into the mix, as well. This, of course, led to both a huge family and a lifetime of pain, anger, betrayal, jealousy, and terrible life-and-death drama. 


This is Jacob, a father of our faith. He is given such an honorific title simply because he is so much like all the rest of us. It is precisely here that we must remember that our faith is not based at all upon us reaching up to God. It is not based on anything we can do to tip the scales of justice towards at least a little more good than bad, or in convincing God that we are worthy of His graces...
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One poet referred to God as “The Hound of Heaven.” Our patient and hopeful God knew all about Jacob and his problems both of character and circumstance, and loved him still; He was always in swift pursuit of this tricky, fighting, deceptive man. J. Oswald Sanders said it so well, “It is human nature to notice the worst in our fellowmen, but God is always looking for what is best. He clearly discerns the deepest spiritual yearnings of our hearts and works towards their realizations. All His chastening have that end in view.”  The Hound of Heaven had His sights set on Jacob.


The tension in Laban’s household only grew over the years, and the time finally came for Jacob and his family to leave that place. The only option was to head back in the direction that would put him into immediate contact with his brother again. He was frustrated, scared, and unsure of what to do. He was still a schemer, and came up with an elaborate plan of separating his family and possessions into two camps, so perhaps he might emerge from the encounter with his rightly furious twin brother with something left to his name. On this night before the encounter, he found himself a place to be alone and think. Jacob was fleeing from one opponent directly into the arms of another, when he had the greatest fight of his life. 


A man showed up, out there in the middle of nowhere, and wrestled with Jacob all night. It was no dream or imagination; Jacob walked with a limp after this match; but it was also no ordinary man. Jacob was resorting to his old habit of scheming his way out another family mess when the Hound of Heaven caught him. It was on this night that God changed Jacob’s name from deceiver to Israel because “he had struggled with God and with men and had overcome.” God saw that this conniving, crafty man had within him something that longed for the spiritual. Our God of Hope knew that He could make something of that, if Jacob would just let Him.  


Mr. Sanders again, “There is an optimism in God which discerns the hidden possibilities in the most unpromising character. He has a keen eye for hidden elements of nobility and promise in an unprepossessing life. He is the God of the difficult temperament, the God of the warped personality, the God of the misfit. Only God saw the prince in Jacob. He has a solution for every problem of personality and temperament. When we surrender our lives into His hands for drastic and radical treatment, He will bring into play all of His resources of love and grace.”  
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In this day, when real life all around us often seems so much stranger than fiction, it is good for us to remember both the reality of the human condition and the character of our faithful God. Much of the world might read Jacob’s life story and not be able to see anything but the worst of all the personalities involved. The current trend of our culture of endless social media and on-demand news is to take a perverse pleasure in being shocked and disgusted by the dysfunction of others. We are coached and conditioned, even manipulated by unseen but very real algorithms, to be both aghast and addicted by stories of the sorry condition of our neighbors. Of course, we do all of this while never considering just who is telling the story and what their motives might be, or what it might feel like to have our own lives exposed and picked apart in like manner. Rather, we too easily fall into the trap of being daily encouraged to think better of ourselves by thinking the worst about everyone else. 


But others who have had lives our lives touched by God will read of Jacob and his dramas and immediately think of our own lives, families, and communities. Many can relate to complicated and tricky relationships, and lifetimes of reaping the dysfunction that has so long been sown, sometimes for generations. It is so comforting to realize that God sees it all, and has never been afraid of getting His hands dirty in reaching down help us. In fact, He was so willing to do so that God the Son condescended to be born to an unwed teenager in a borrowed stable. The King of Kings was so glad to help us that He took all of our shame and scorn upon Himself, and was brutally nailed to a cross for our sin. His goodness and faithfulness in relentless pursuit of us is the whole point of our faith. 


Today, let's thank the Lord for His grace to rise above our own sinful condition. Let's strive to be more like Jesus, Who always looks for the best in each person, and not like the world which gleefully rejoices in the worst. Our family, friends, and neighbors need to see the forgiveness and life that is found in Jesus. We all need to know that God is so good, and that He actively wants to help us change the channel on our reality show lives, and to become more happy, holy, healthy, and hopeful. All of us can take courage and hope because the Lord Almighty is with us, and the God of Jacob is our fortress.
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It was the darkest night of my life. Now when I think back on the days and weeks leading up to that day, I can remember a growing, swirling storm of confusion and uncertainty. Things before that had been so wonderful and peaceful; more full of joy than I and so many others ever thought life could be. So none of us were sure what was happening, or where all of the discord and distrust was coming from. It really seemed to be coming from every direction at once, but at the same time from nowhere discernible. It just felt like something huge was coming. 


When it came, the day began like any other. I woke and dressed early, ate a little breakfast and then went out to pick up a few things. It was promising to be a bright, sunny day, the dawn filled with happily chattering birds and brilliant blossoms dotting the landscape. As I made my way down my to-do list, I chatted for awhile with a neighbor of mine, then stopped in to see another friend’s new baby, so tiny and sweet and unaware of all of the troubles and wickedness of this world. But the just-waking neighborhood was beginning to buzz with some sort of  commotion, like angry bees around a disturbed hive - concerned faces, angry faces, hot tears, harsh whispers. The news reached my ears that a terrible traitor was in our midst, and that his betrayal was fierce and more costly than any of us could have imagined possible.


How could this be?  How could someone that we all trusted be so vile? The rumors were flying. The commotion grew as people everywhere were offering their opinions and venting their frustrations. Who could be trusted now? Why hadn’t anyone seen this coming? No one was untouched by the sudden dark cloud of suspicion and hatred that threatened to envelop the whole community. The anger and rage rolled like a storm, and touched everyone in its path. We were all swept along, no one sure where this was all heading, few caring, all just caught up in the growing storm. 
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The crowd swept through the streets early that morning, carried along by something very real, though unseen, out to the courts in front of the governor’s palace. Many had been following the storm all night. The religious people and lawyers had already brought their witnesses and spent their venom, and now the local government would have its turn. A half-hearted attempt was made to get to the truth, but the furious crowd was beyond reasoning and drowned out everything. Many in the crowd were the same who gathered just a week earlier, caught up with the prevailing emotion of that day, too; laughing and dancing and crying “Hosanna!” This time their rage exploded, and the sentence was handed down. 


I soon found myself standing somewhere I never dreamed I would be, helpless to do anything but watch the events unfold. The next hours stretched  on for what seemed like days, and at the same time flew by with such an intense feeling of helplessness. The beating, the blood, the mocking and jeering, the insults and ridicule of many, the desperate sadness of others. A terrifying earthquake shook the whole city, disrupting graves, and it was said that the veil in our beautiful temple was ripped in two, right down the middle. Even the sun stopped shining, and darkness swallowed everything. “It is finished.” 


Slowly, the crowd dispersed and everyone went back to their homes or rooms at the inns, back to life as usual. The adrenaline and intensity of the moment was past, it seemed like it had been absorbed somehow, and many just picked up right where they had left off. But so many of us were devastated. Who could we trust; who could lead us and show us the way? Some people were so frustrated with Peter, James, and John, who had always been closest. How could they have been so blind as to not seen what was happening, and done something to stop the wicked traitor from hurting Jesus? If they had, people reasoned, maybe none of this would have happened. Now Peter had denied Jesus and all the others were hiding in fear. We didn’t know where to fix our eyes. We didn’t even feel like any of what we had seen could have been true, after all. Everything seemed like just a dream at best, or like a terrible lie at worst. I stood a ways off from the grave and watched them place His body inside; I watched the huge stone rolled in front of the tomb, and then sealed by the Romans.
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Sleep evaded me that long, dark night. I tossed and turned, and tried to pray as He had taught us, but struggled to do so. A few of us met behind closed doors the next day to weep and try to comfort one another. Too many people were still jeering and mocking us anytime we went out, but we busied ourselves in making a plan for the morning, after Sabbath was finished. 


We woke very early that morning, and quietly made our way back to the tomb. Everything had happened so fast, and there had been no time to properly prepare His body before Sabbath began, so we intended to do that this day while everyone else was busy with the new week. My grief was so deep, and seemed to increase with each step I took towards the place His body lay. He was so wonderful, and it was so hard to imagine that He was really gone. My heart and mind were trying to make peace with the fact that His life had made such an impact on everyone He encountered, but He was gone much too soon. All of our hopes and dreams were gone with Him. The same old questions about who to trust now, and who to follow now swirled in my mind, threatening to fill my heart with despair. 
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But as we reached the tomb, something was definitely not right. Something was happening. What was happening? My heart began to race and my mind felt like it was going to explode! The earth began to shake again as we drew close, and a light brighter than anything I’d ever seen blinded us all for a moment. Before any of us could react, we all watched as an angel rolled the enormous stone away from the tomb. The Roman guards were frozen in place - none of them could process what was happening, either. The angel turned and looked at all of us and spoke to us, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”


It took just a moment for us to overcome our shock, and we ran, crying and laughing and shouting all the way! My heart was almost bursting with joy and wonder and amazement - He had risen, just as He said! As we raced back to where the men were, my mind filled with so many other things that Jesus had said…

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Our beautiful Jesus - God the Son; Wonderful, Counselor, Everlasting One, Prince of Peace! We shall keep our eyes only on Him, the One who gave His life to set us free from our sin, and the One who bore our terrible shame. He has overcome death, hell, and the grave, and has made a way for us to be in relationship with God again. We will follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the One whose voice speaks the words of life and causes dead men to live again. I know Him and have seen Him - He is Risen indeed! 

On this special weekend of Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the birthday of the Church, may your eyes fall only on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith! 

The last few months I have shared some of what our friends have been walking through with the life of their precious little son, Elijah. He entered into the arms of Jesus on April 25th, and just yesterday many of us were able to gather together to celebrate this little boy’s life and testimony. 


This precious child’s life and story serve as a powerful reminder to all of us of what really matters. His witness underscores some vitally true and desperately important things. His life here on earth was not as long as any of us would have wished, especially his parents, sisters, grandparents, and extended family. We would all have loved to watch him grow and learn and become a man. But his life calls us to remember that this life is not all there is - there is something more, something higher, something so much better. There is so much more to his story, and to ours. 
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​​You see, we live in a terribly broken world. It can be so painful and difficult to understand things like what our good, godly friends are walking through right now. They certainly have done nothing to cause or deserve such a devastating turn in life. Looking at what happens in our own lives and all around us each day is so difficult to do if we look outside of the lens of our faith in Christ. Nothing seems "fair" or makes sense if we leave God out of the picture. But when we keep God at the center of our view, we remember that there is always so much more to the story.  


Though many people and even entire cultures deny it, the Biblical account of this world is true. Life and death are real, God is real, more real than we can even understand; His adversary is also real. The effects of the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden are far-reaching; death entered the picture and the enemy thought he had successfully robbed God of His children forever. But God's forethought is greater than any wicked scheme of the enemy. Every person on earth is born with a sinful nature, but also a God-given capacity to choose. With God's help the latter actually can overcome the former - the fairy tales got this right when the fairy godmothers granted Sleeping Beauty the power to come out of her deep death-sleep with the help of the prince. 


Still, God’s wicked adversary is now the prince of this world, and everything in creation is corrupted by rebellion and death. Every day, there are reminders that the consequences of sin are real and cause terrible damage to whatever and whomever is touched. We are frequently faced with situations that leave us feeling that this is not the way things are supposed to be. I am quite sure that many of you reading this are in some way reeling from the effects of sin in life - perhaps someone else’s, perhaps your own, perhaps a complicated mix of the two, perhaps even just the ravaging and devastating consequences of living in a corrupted world. At one time or another, all of us will be. None of us, no matter how deeply we lean into our relationship with Jesus, are going to remain untouched by the effects of the fall of mankind on this side of Heaven. 


Everyone, everywhere is left to wade through a lot of conflicting pain, anger, recrimination, unforgiveness, and dissonant noise, day in and day out, year after year. This is the world we live in - Galatians 5:19-21 sums it up nicely, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
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​What a refreshing reminder Elijah’s life has been of the reality and wonder of our great Savior! God is not unaware of our situation. He knows of our great need for help. He is well aware of the trouble and pain caused by the effects of the fall. He is well aware of the grief and suffering of His people, and what a comfort it is to know that Jesus grieves right along with us (John 11:33-35.) God is not far off and indifferent to our pain and suffering. He is near, present, and intimately involved. He is with us in every situation. We all felt Him with us yesterday as we gathered to worship God and celebrate a precious life.

Long before any of us were here, God imagined us and dreamed of what our lives could become. The Bible teaches that He knit each of us together in our mothers' wombs, putting within each of us His own beautiful image. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed perfect unity and fellowship for time without beginning or end, and certainly did not need us for company or to relieve boredom. God wanted us, and made us so that we could enjoy perfect fellowship with Himself and one another forever. 
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​Again, the powerful forethought of God is much greater than any wicked scheme of the enemy. Just a few weeks ago we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, who by His blood and through His Spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death. The enemy thought he had defeated God forever through the cross. I love to think of the moment that wicked creature realized his great, fatal mistake. We can celebrate the reality of Christ's victory every day, and we can look forward to all that is to come. This present world is not all there is; we who are in Christ do not grieve like people with no hope. There is so much more to the story!


Our dear friend Elijah is not gone; he lives on, with God forever. The place that he has gone is the beautiful place we all hope to be one day; the glorious place where no one will ever say or think, “this is not the way things are supposed to be.” The very last chapters of the Bible describe it, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”


Praise God! I am so grateful for Elijah’s life and testimony. His life reminds us all that God is so good, and that we can trust Him implicitly. Moving forward, let's keep the lessons of this precious boy's life in our hearts. Our family, friends, and neighbors need to see the strength, forgiveness, and love that real life in Christ makes possible. 

It was just over one year ago that all of us in this part of Texas were sitting under that unwelcome visitor, Hurricane Harvey. Even as I write this, the poor east coast is sitting underneath a storm that just keeps raining. We are in the thick of hurricane season, so let’s take a moment to think about storms in life. 

Here are two thought-provoking questions - what should life be like?  What makes life, or even one day in life, good?
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Most of us live under the tremendous misconception that things are always supposed to be easy, pleasant, and “right”.  We are continually and completely surprised and distressed when things don’t go our way.  This is probably some shadowy memory in our cellular structure from the Garden of Eden, and of the way things were supposed to be before the fall of mankind.  But the world is fallen, and unfortunately, awful things do happen all the time. One great struggle that many people face is the question of why terrible things happen to good people.  If God is so good, then why does He let such bad things happen, especially to people who live for Him?

The Book of Job is an attention-grabbing book in the Bible, and I encourage you to read it again or for the first time. It tells the story of a man named Job, who was “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” It actually says he was the greatest man among all the peoples of the East. He was wealthy and blessed and had a beautiful, large family. In verses 6-12, however, we read that Satan comes into God's presence and accuses that Job would never worship God if all of the good things were taken from his life.  That passage catches my interest! It goes on to say that God responds to the Enemy in verse 12. “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”  Satan then proceeded to destroy everything Job had and loved - his family, his possessions - everything. 

There are so many things to notice in this account. First, I want to remind us that the starting place for understanding anything in life is to realize that the character of God is eternally and entirely without fault.  The Bible teaches that we are created in His image - not the other way around.  He is not just a magnified version of us. God is always good and always chooses for the highest good.  Second, notice that the terrible things that happen to Job were not God’s idea, they were Satan’s idea. Third, remember that we do not have the perspective that God does - He can see everything without constraint of time or location. The things we do not understand and which seem devastating from our perspective are not unclear to God - and we truly can trust Him. 
    
Like Job, some of us have been through some awful things. People suffer and endure hardships like abuse, betrayal, or horrible traumas at the hands of wicked people.  Other troubles take us by surprise - illness in our own body or in that of a loved one, the death of someone close, addictions, marital problems, and rebellious children - the list of life’s storms is long. I am in no way belittling those things. ​

​I do want to challenge our thinking. Storms have a few interesting qualities:

• They help us see things we never could have seen without them. For example, the power of forgiveness can never be experienced without something first requiring it. 
• They help us minister to others in a way we never could have without them.  I have seen many victims of abuse turn around and help others find God’s comfort through a simiar situation. 

• They give us opportunity to know God in a different way than we ever could have without them - His kindness, His hope, His peace and healing.
• They give us opportunity to show how incredible God is, even when life is crazy. He is with us and gives us strength to endure.

We know storms are going to happen, we know life is not always going to be easy. What if we stopped letting life’s storms render us unable to help anyone, and started seeing them as a great opportunity to minister to others who are hurting?  What if we started treasuring hard times as a way to become more like Jesus? The Bible says in James chapter 1: 2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

Listen to this powerful thought from Samuel Chadwick, who lived and ministered over 100 years ago :  ​

“Sometime in the country I have stood and watched the village blacksmith at work, and for a long time could not make out the use of the little trip hammer. The big hammer I could understand, but why should the smith strike in turns the anvil and the iron puzzled me. One day I ventured to ask an explanation, and found that the little hammer regulates the stroke of the big one. The smith holds the glowing metal, turning it lest the stroke fall too often upon the same spot, directing the blows that they may descend at the right moment; turning, tempering, regulating till the metal is fashioned to the desired shape. So God holds the soul and regulates the stroke. Sometimes He makes the Devil His hammer-man . . . Satan strikes to smash. God regulates the stroke, and turns his malice to our perfecting, and the Devil sweats at the task of fashioning saints into the likeness of Christ.”         ​

That horrible thing that happened in your life - the very thing that the Enemy meant to use to destroy you - God can take it and use it to make you better and stronger than you could have been before. We can become more empathetic, more caring, more aware of others, more mature, more wise, and full of steadiness and help for the hurting all around us. Read the end of Job’s story. God was right - Job was not just serving Him because of the good things in his life. Job trusted God and refused to curse or turn away from Him, even though that is what many advised Him to do, and God “blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.” 

​The storms of life are going to come on this side of Heaven. Let the devil sweat, and let God make you stronger than ever. ​

A blessed Holy Week to you and yours! I pray that the Lord’s presence is very real and near to you as the Lenten season of reflection and deep contemplation of the cross of Christ turns to the celebration of His triumph over sin and death.

This morning, Eli and I were praying through our daily reading out of a book we have been utilizing lately called The Valley of Vision. This is a compilation of Puritan-era prayers, written in a beautiful older English, poetic style. We came across these words, which struck me so deeply:

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin, 
Satan did not play in tempting me to it, 
I do not play when I sink in deep mire, 
for no sin is a game, no toy, no bauble;
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies
not so much in the nature of the sin committed, 
as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. 

​​What an opportunity the season leading to Resurrection Sunday is to reflect on our deep need for salvation. Thank God for the hopefulness of new birth and new life that we see reflected in the colorful decorations in homes and stores everywhere. But the magnitude of what Easter means can be fully understood only when we come face to face with our own depravity. So many of us who follow Christ have grown used to His life flowing in ours; we are tempted to forget that every good thing in us comes from Him, is made better by Him. We live in constant danger of being sucked in by the spirit of the age which hints we aren’t so bad, after all. More accurately, the spirit of our age says, “Look at that person - they are terrible! Thank my own goodness that I’m not as terrible as them!” We are shocked and dismayed when people sin, as though every last one of us is not also a sinner needing a savior. The Bible clearly teaches...

Dr. Jim Bradford mentioned on his podcast recently that it is striking how quickly humanity gave into total wickedness after the fall. In Genesis 4, the first murder occurs, and by chapter 6 the entire world is so sinful and wicked that the Bible tells us, "The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled." We are not good; inherently, we are terribly selfish. We must not think that we couldn't be like the generation that broke God's heart. We can't think that we aren't also capable of the deepest depravity. 

We can realize our own sinful nature most clearly the closer we get to God. Looking upon His goodness and holiness reveals just how far short we all fall. Throughout history, so many people have loved God and desired nearness to Him. Think of even just the Biblical record of those spiritual giants who knew God, and desired deep intimacy with Him, and then what a face-to-face encounter with God caused them to do:

Job, who God Himself called perfect...

Job 42:5-6
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.

Moses, who was a mighty deliverer of his people...

Exodus 3:6
At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.


Elijah, who was so filled with God’s power that he could shut the heavens...

1 Kings 19:12-13
And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.


Daniel, so godly that several despots in a row trusted him to be prime minister...

Daniel 10:7-8
I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless.

​Every one of them saw a glimpse of God’s glory, and fell flat on his face with a realization of their own wicked, sinful nature. When we compare ourselves to the goodness, holiness, and righteousness of God, we remember how far from Him we are. We must realize that our sinful and selfish actions and thoughts not only hurt ourselves and other people, but that they are aimed at the most beautiful, innocent, Being of all. As the prayer stated earlier: Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. 

Realizing God's goodness, and not comparing ourselves with others yields real freedom. Remembering that any goodness and righteousness in our own lives is not actually our own, but God's gives us a right perspective. When we remember God's goodness, and our great need for Him, then we are ready to go out and share His love with others. We know what Jesus' death and resurrection has meant in our own hearts and lives, and we can hope for the same for everyone we meet. This weekend, take some time to reflect on our Savior. May your faith be strengthened with a fresh revelation of the Father's great love for us, demonstrated in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. May your life spill over with the goodness of God. 

​But I know that some of you are having a very different kind of day altogether. Sometimes our circumstances and the situations in which we find ourselves make it excruciatingly difficult to feel very grateful for anything at all. 

I am particularly mindful today of our friends, Collin and Kim, who have been given some very difficult news about their soon-to-be-born son. I would love to invite all of you reading this to join so many of us who are praying for this little boy. Jesus said to ask, seek, and knock, and He encouraged those of us who follow Him to pray and ask for God‘s hand to move. So we do just that, and ask for God to strengthen this baby’s heart, and for doctors and nurses alike to be so surprised at the health and vigor of this precious young man on his birthday.

​The Bible says that we are to bring a sacrifice of praise to God. There is an old chorus inspired by this verse that we used to sing in our church, and I have a vague memory of wondering exactly what it meant to bring a sacrifice of praise. To my young and untested self, who had at that point lived such a sheltered and easy life, the best I could imagine was just a sleepy round of praise, because we had stayed up so late the night before as college ministers.

Of course, now I have lived much more life, and I think I better understand what it means to give praise to God that is also a sacrifice. A sacrifice is defined as an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. To give God praise that is a sacrifice means to glorify God with our hearts and lips even in times of great trial and trouble and uncertainty. It is to trust and thank God, even when we feel so afraid and even angry, and would like to hold on to those emotions. We can praise and express our gratitude to Him, no matter what our feelings or the circumstances of our lives are at any given moment.
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​-It means that even in times of terrible and confusing sickness we can praise the Lord because He is good regardless what is happening in my body. 

-It means that when relationships are complicated, even unimaginable, we can praise the Lord because He is kind and faithful even when none of the rest of us are.

-It means that when infertility or failed pregnancies occur, or when our children are suffering, we can praise the Lord, because He is unfailingly compassionate and comforting.

-It means that when people we love become sick, or even die, we can praise the Lord because His love endures forever. 

-It means that when people we thought were friends betray us or slander us, we can praise the Lord, because He is just and true. 

-It means that when all of the comforts and sureties of life fail, or are taken away, we can praise the Lord because He alone is our firm foundation.

No matter what, we can bring our praise to the Lord, even - and especially - when it is a sacrifice. 

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​J. Oswald Sanders in his book Spiritual Maturity says that we moderns too often equate blessing with comfort. When we have everything we want and things are going our way, it is easy to remember that God is good and cares for us. But we have made the grave error of equating physical or material comfort with the love of God. If things are uncomfortable or not going our way, we sometimes feel that He must be angry at us or giving us the cold shoulder. But God is not like that. God does not love us when…, or as long as…, or if…; God loves us, period. And He is worthy of praise in good times and bad.

As followers of Jesus, we must remember that there is a much bigger picture to keep in mind - an eternal picture. Romans 8:28 reminds us that "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

This is a powerful truth that we must remember. When we love God and trust Him and give our lives towards His purposes, we can rest assured that no matter what happens, God will use it for His glory and for our good. Suffering is not for nothing. Discomfort is not for nothing. We can trust that God will use all of the things that we go through to help us become more like Jesus and to help others know Him. We may not understand everything that happens at the time, but we can still bring a sacrifice of praise, because we know that God is good. And we know that eternity with Him will make all of these momentary difficulties make sense.

I pray that this week, whether you are rejoicing or in sorrow, you will find sweet rest and comfort in the presence of our wonderful God. May your joy spread like wildfire to those around you, and may your sorrows draw you closer and closer to our loving Savior.