It’s All About Perspective

There were these two young fish swimming along and they happened to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swam on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looked over at the other and goes “What in the world is water?” In David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College, he began his speech with this anecdote to explain that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are…

In Ezekiel 37 the prophet records a vision from God. In the vision, he was transported to a valley and saw that it was full of human bones. God had Ezekiel walk among them; everywhere he looked were dead, dry bones.

God asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

The natural answer would of course be, “No!” But Ezekiel, familiar as he was with God and His power, answered, “Lord God, only You know.”

God told Ezekiel to prophesy: “Thus says the Lord God to these…

Have you sinned? Do you feel guilty about it? What are you going to do about that?

You could try…

• Adam’s solution: Blame someone else (Genesis 3:11-12).
• Aaron’s solution: Claim that it “just happened” and that you were hardly involved (Exodus 32:21-24).
• Saul’s solution: Try to rationalize and justify your motives (1 Samuel 15:1-15).
• David’s solution: Cover it up (2 Samuel 11).
• Ahab’s solution: Attack those who are doing right in order to deflect attention from yourself…

Lessons from Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel has a special place in my heart. Strategically placed along the nation's busy interstates, Cracker Barrel restaurants were a safe choice among many suspect and questionable diners that dotted the roadsides during family road trips. The food was quality, the staff was friendly, and the peg game provided hours of fun. I spent many hours in those restaurants staring at walls adorned with an assortment of antique signs and tchotchkes, drinking root beer from a frosted glass, and rocking to and fro on the front porch.

For as long as I can remember, Cracker Barrels looked…

Find Peace Through the Noise

Lately, it feels difficult to have a conversation that stays light for very long. It does not matter how ordinary the starting point is. Before long, it turns toward the news. A tragedy that just happened. Another story that leaves you shaking your head. Another reminder of how unsettled the world feels. Sometimes the conversation ends, but the weight does not. It lingers in our minds. You find yourself thinking about it later, replaying details you can’t change, carrying concern you do not know where to put. And over time, that quiet heaviness begins to feel…

Opportunity

Opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. We should never take opportunities for granted. No one else will have exactly the same opportunities you have. And, many opportunities you have today you might not have a year from now.

The apostle Paul was always taking advantage of opportunities. When Paul was in Athens (Acts 17), the Epicureans and Stoics took him up to the Areopagus to hear what “strange doctrines” he was teaching. Despite the obvious penchant of the city toward idolatry, Paul took the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He even…

In Matthew 6, Jesus offers some instruction on prayer — specifically, misguided approaches to prayer versus the kind of prayer God desires.

First, Jesus contrasts the prayer God desires with the self-righteousness of hypocrites:

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room,…

Why So Soon ?

We have two golden retrievers, and they love sharing slices of mandarin oranges with my dad (or is it the other way around?)  They recognize the bag when it enters the house with the rest of the groceries, and they get excited just like it’s a bag of dog treats. However, if the bag has a squishy orange in it, or if the bowl of oranges sits a little too long, the taste turns. If dad doesn’t like an orange, he will toss all the pieces to the dogs, but even they usually refuse to eat the…

When Dreams Don’t Come True

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue; and the dreams that you dare to
dream really do come true.” So sings Dorothy longingly in The Wizard of Oz. In
a world of heart-crushing disappointments everyone longs for a life with “a happy
ending.”
It is a uniquely human thing to dream dreams – to be able to imagine the ideal
and long for it. And God, far from discouraging our longings, has put a vision of
the future in our hearts which is free of suffering and sin, a life of unending joy
and peace (Rev…

Identity

In a close self-examination I find that I feel the most anxious, angry or depressed
when my identity is challenged. As I reflect on my own ravenous consumption of
the apparent gifts of my efforts, I find at times that the vent of my aggressive
defense of who I am, was actually a war against the reminder of who I should be.
This can at times find its way to a self-righteous scourging toward the challenger,
who in retrospect, may have been designed to change me for the better.
One of the things I find fascinating when doing Old Testament…