Surprised by a Book
One of the great pleasures of my life is being surprised by a book. A friend recommended one to me and so I read it. I didn’t expect much from this thin book by an Eastern Orthodox theologian. But, as I read it, I began to realize that, despite the short chapters, it was a…
Continue readingPurpose and a Relationship with God
Mark 1:35 says, “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”Mark 6:46 says, “After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.”Mark 14:32-42 gives us the account of Jesus spending the entire night in deep prayer. Those who read this blog…
Continue readingI Can’t Get No – Satisfaction
I find Solomon to be one of the most tragic figures in all of the Old Testament. Read about him in First Kings and particularly 1 Kings 10:1-11:13. He becomes king of the greatest kingdom in the world and is humble enough to ask God for wisdom in ruling over the kingdom. God granted him…
Continue readingFollow-Up to Passing Judgement
The love of those things that are outside Christianity keeps me outside the church. – Simone Weil as quoted in Duncan, David James. The Brothers K. New York: Random House, Inc., 2005.
Continue readingPassing Judgement
I often cringe when people suggest that we should all stop “judging.” Sometimes my cringe is because I feel bad for the person who feels that others are passing judgement on their actions. Sometimes I cringe because I feel that the person is seeking to justify actions that are certainly not worthy of praise. Sometimes…
Continue readingA Man After God’s Own Heart
There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone…
Continue readingThe Risk of Prayer
I read an interesting paragraph in an Annie Dillard book. I admire those eighteenth century Hasids who understood the risk of prayer. Rabbi Uri of Strelisk took sorrowful leave of his household every morning because he was setting off to his prayers. He told his family how to dispose of his manuscripts if praying should…
Continue readingPrayer Changes Things Follow-Up
Many years ago I read a small book by Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest Christian Church in the world.1 Cho is a man who has devoted his life to prayer and has gone to great extremes to develop his prayer life. The book has had a large impact on me such that…
Continue readingPrayer Changes Things
I have an uneasy relationship with this quote by E. Stanley Jones: Prayer is surrender; surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself…
Continue readingWaiting On the World to Change
I wanted to use the lyrics of the song “Waiting On the World to Change” in a sermon I was giving. I felt like these words expressed well the response I was seeking to get from my audience. I felt that too many of us are sitting around waiting for the world to change and…
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