Your fears have something important to teach you, and I suggest you listen to them. “Listen to your fears?” This sounds contrary to the advice we expect to hear when we’re fearful. “Ignore your fears” or “face your fears” are much more commonly accepted approaches to vanquishing the fears hiding…
I have never written poetry and I read very little of it. Both of these statements will be self-evident soon enough. 🙂 Nevertheless, my kids have been composing poems so I thought I would try my hand. Here goes! Composed: March 25-May 15, 2020 I wrote and tweaked this over…
Squirrels are cute little creatures. Growing up in West Virginia, squirrel hunting is often a gateway into the harvesting of other larger creatures such as deer, turkey, or black bears. I no longer hunt and I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect the reason we start with…
“I’m so busy!” It’s one of the most common phrases in the English language, and it’s a true statement for most of us. But under the surface of that statement, we are also signaling our importance, our work ethic, our commitment to hustle, our unavailability to help with whatever someone…
Recently over dinner, a friend posed an excellent question for reflection: “If you could meet someone from the past, who would it be?” I had wrestled with this question before, but in this particular moment I knew exactly who I would want to converse with: the Apostle Paul. My passion…
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be…
“Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.” Psalm 49:12 Over the course of my sabbatical I had the privilege of reading Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel, Anna Karenina. To say that I enjoyed the book would be true, but not quite sufficient. I would…
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…” (1 Timothy 1:1) Hope is hard to come by for many these days. Even in a time of low unemployment, high wages, and relative rest from global wars there is a note…
“So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” (Psalm 71:18) What is the value of a living a long life? Why do we desire it and pursue it and…
(If you’re looking for more Moby Dick answers, check out my post: “All Your Moby Dick Questions Answered!”) Stories of self-destruction abound. I recently told a biblical one in an eight-part sermon series on Samson earlier this year at Covenant Church. But tucked away in one brief little chapter in…
