Before all time, God hovered over the abyss, brooding. We don’t know for how long. In a world of time, it may have been eons. Like an artist before a blank canvas, with eyes closed, breathing deeply, imagining every detail before even dipping his brush. And then he begins. For five and a half days, God’s creation takes shape. Then, day six, the creation of man and woman. There are two ways to...
Honoring the Ache
Every age has its own set of unquestioned presuppositions. Here’s one in our day: Getting what you want quickly is better than having to wait.This is why advertisers boast of faster internet, quicker results, shorter lines, easier access, top speeds, and fewer commercials. Going without what you want produces an ache. When you get what you want, the ache goes away. This is why we pay a high...
Your Date Is Here
It’s a risky thing to ask a girl out. I remember the fear as a twenty-something anytime I asked a young woman on a date. It felt like placing my heart in her hands for her either to hold or to crush. So like a lot of guys, I tried to minimize the risk, read the signals, pick up on clues and cues to get a good sense of what she’d say before I ever put myself out there. If it seemed like she...
Come Clean
It’s in our stories, movies, and legends. In Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Edgar Allan Poe’s Telltale Heart, Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. We feel it in our bones. It’s in our DNA. When we’re guilty, we desperately want to come clean. Can you relate? Maybe you have a loved one who is struggling against being honest with her sin. Maybe you’re carrying something from your past that you’ve never told...
A Simple Practice for Those in Need of Mercy
Sometimes those of us who need God’s mercy most impede its flow. So instead of an outpour, we receive just a few drops. This is sad, but sadder still is when we then believe a trickle of mercy is all God wants to give us. Years ago, after telling a spiritual mentor about how I’d viewed pornography again, he recommended we go to God together so I could confess my sin directly to Him...
Spin
I remember as a teenager taking a corner too fast on a snowy road in my step-dad’s car. The car spun out of control and slammed into the side of the street. My brother got out to assess the damage while I sat anxiously inside. Through the front windshield I read his lips: “You’re dead.” Sometimes life’s like this. We hit an icy stretch, we mess up, and we long to hear from a loving Father...