For the past month I have been preaching about the Church and simultaneously, I have been experiencing church in ways that have left me speechless with wonder and delight. Last week I wrote about the myriad celebrations that had occurred in my community—a wedding, an...
Are you ever so excited or happy or overjoyed that you think you might burst? The weekend just past was like that at Calvary. A wedding, a third-grader receiving a Bible, voting on new Elders, celebrating Calvary’s 70th birthday, participating in the ordination of one...
I have a confession to make: I have lost my way, and it is time to come home again. Around the first of the year I shared that while I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, per se, I do often have a focus or theme for...
Taking the point is a phrase often associated with the military tactic of an individual or small group advancing ahead of a larger unit. If the unit is in unfamiliar territory, the point may function as a scout who finds the best route for others...
In the Old Testament, Joshua 3 records the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The crossing occurs at harvest time, when the river routinely overflows its banks. The people will have to cross the swollen waters, a detail that...
What did you, could you think as they pounded through your open palms forcing coarse, bloody iron nail to sink deep into the splintered wood? Did you feel the grasp of panic, that sudden, stomach-wrenching sense that this, at the very last, is it no further chance of changing, turning back? Were...
Have you noticed that children do not have to be taught to be loud? Really, really loud? I considered this seemingly universal truth again yesterday. The Washington DC area was blanketed by about 8 inches of a “welcome to the first full day of Spring,...
How do you handle waiting? I don’t know anyone who actually likes to wait, but waiting is a pretty regular part of all our lives. We wait in line and in traffic. We wait on our spouse or children. We wait on the nurse to...
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. -Isaiah 55:6-7 Look...
Repentance is a big focus during the season of Lent which is one of the reasons some people don’t particularly care for Lent. Who wants to spend a lot of time dwelling on their mistakes, shortcomings and weaknesses? Who needs another round of self-flagellation over...