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This week, with states around the country beginning to have conversations about reopening I found myself doing something I haven’t done in many months.  I found myself beginning to dream of a life beyond this trauma.  It brought my spirit great joy to do so even if all that I dream of never comes to pass.  Future thinking is an important part of our well being as human beings.  When we aren’t able to do it we become anxious, depressed, and irritable.   In his book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert writes, “To see is to experience the world as it is, to remember is to experience…

26 Don’t be afraid of anyone! Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. 27 Whatever I say to you in the dark, you must tell in the light. And you must announce from the housetops whatever I have whispered to you. 28 Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 Even the hairs on your…

Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,[a] Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. John 21:2-3 It had been a long few days for Peter.  In less than a week, he had cut a man’s ear off, let his Rabbi get arrested, lied outright to avoid imprisonment and execution, watched his Rabbi slowly die at the hands of an oppressive government, and now he had…

“On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.” Joshua 5:10-12 This passage from Joshua 5 describes a time of transition in the life of Israel. Leadership had been passed from Moses to Joshua. The children of Israel…

The worst things are never the last things with Jesus. What a profound word for the times in which we find ourselves. No one can live without hope and the world needs our witness now more than ever. Will we be those people who insist that yes, this world is broken, but in Christ all that is broken will be made new? Will we be the ones in our communities who live and speak that the worst thing is never the last thing because the worst thing has already been defeated?

“Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.” John 9:1-5 (The Message) Tragedy can strike so quickly and capriciously. While going about our everyday lives, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, the world can change. We’ve seen this happen with the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic. The world has changed, our relationships with others have changed, the rhythms of…

I find myself wondering how such a proclamation is even possible until it hits me. The imperative statements found throughout this Psalm begin and end with God not us. The Lord makes, the Lord leads, the Lord restores, the Lord comforts, and the Lord prepares. We are the recipients and not the other way around.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:15 Certain words in the English language sound like what they describe. Words like “buzz,” “cuckoo,” “BOOM!” “ooze,” and “screech.” These are called onomatopoetic words. Onomatopoeia is a noun that refers to a word formed by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent. “Buzz” sounds like what it does…buzzzzz. “Crush,” also, is onomatopoetic. You can almost hear that word as an old car is crushed between giant steel jaws in a scrap yard…CARUSHHH!…or even when you wad up a piece of paper. Crush! In Psalm 34, the psalmist speaks of being “crushed in spirit” – a…

Recently I have been thinking about the great truth that no matter who you are or where you live, every life is filled with its share of troubles. Trouble can make us physically sick. It can leave us feeling hopeless. Sometimes we can ignore the trouble and other times we are overwhelmed by it. These are the moments when it becomes critically important that we lean in and trust the Lord.  I am reminded of a story from the book of 2 Chronicles about a King of Judah named Jehoshaphat. He was a good king and a mighty man of God. One day he received word that three…

The defining quality of Christians from the first century to today has always been loving one another. But how can we best live out the life of love for one another in the midst of Covid-19? By practicing the principle of thinking of others before ourselves. I have to confess that in this present crisis I struggle personally with this question on a daily basis. There is indeed a thin line between self-care and self-absorption. When does caring for myself become self-absorption? This is a difficult question to answer and one that each of us must answer for ourselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit through introspection, prayer and Bible study. And exactly how we answer this question might look a little different for each Christian as we individually struggle to discern what God’s desire is for us to serve him in this present time.