Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried…
“Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” Proverbs 4:26 This past summer God gave me a rare and precious opportunity to spend three days by myself totally alone with Him. I rented a tiny room in a small inn hidden in the quiet hills of my home turf: the beautiful mountains of Vermont. The first morning of my retreat I packed my journal, Bible, some snacks and water in my backpack and went out for a…
08.21.17 We bow low, Director of the skies; A shadow falls today. Forgive us, Maker of the sun and moon; Light turns to darkness today. Don’t hide Your face from this nation, oh God; Don’t shield Your eye from our view! Don’t lift Your hand from among us, great King– We are defenseless, bare, without You. Rescue Your people from blindness, oh Lord; Black sin is obscuring our sight. Deliver the Lost from delusion and lie, We…
I dwell on a high precipice called grace – A towering mountain peak. From here I can see whole worlds! Flights of angels brush my cheek. It’s exhilarating up here, so high – I stand a victor, won. My vision pierces through the sky, Face bathed in Morning Sun. But one misstep, loose pebble, a slip – That’s all it takes to fall. My human flesh would go crashing down, My cranium collide with a wall. And so I do:…
(See also Walking on Water, Part 1) We’ve been through many storms; but this one feels different, doesn’t it? Our boat is quaking. Our country is shaking. The Church as we know it is churning. We would prefer to ignore all this. To go on with life as usual. To pretend we don’t feel the changes in the wind and the tide… We desperately want to shut our eyes against the darkness closing in around us. Yet this is where we…
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to…
“For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29 The campfire prayer has, in recent years, been ridiculed. Brushed aside. Dismissed. As if a single campfire prayer could change the path of a life, could sway the course of someone’s world! I am here to tell you today that there has been at least one life – the life of one quiet, very serious 12-year-old girl (a girl who got the rules bent for her so she could get into…
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For…
We’ve looked at the past – at the origins and root cause of the Great Struggle of humankind (see True Struggle & Alienation). We’ve considered two major conflicting solutions being offered to us in the present as a means of emancipating humankind from the effects of alienation and struggle (see True Revolution). What about the future? In our society there is so much passion and energy being poured into the idea of progress. What exactly are we progressing toward? What…
(See also: True Struggle & Alienation) Alienation and struggle are real. We have been separated from God and our fellow man because of sin. Socialism maintains that the problem is at its core a material problem; and that the solution is revolution. We already see this revolution erupting around us in the shaming of the rich and the “capitalist” class, the dividing up of people into groups, the pitting of one group against another, the call for redistribution of wealth, the desire…