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...
More than a Lovely Fraction
Two of our most basic, human needs are this: to be known and to be loved. But something’s got many of us convinced you can’t have both. So we expend lots of energy hiding those parts of ourselves that are unlovely. And we work really hard to succeed (at business, parenting, athleticism, ministry, Bible study, you name it) because we think it will make us lovely and so, worthy of love. The sad...
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...
Chucking Megaphones
I’m guessing you’ve seen this before: A young kid shouting or singing through a cardboard paper-towel roll, projecting his voice through the house, when the inevitable happens. He slips over to his little sister, holds the make-shift megaphone to her ear, and, just for fun, yells at the top of his lungs. Sister cries, mom or dad rushes in, paper-towel roll goes in the garbage. In our individual...