Caught a bit of a CNN feature last night called “The Person Who Changed My Life”. It had been advertised for some time on the network as “CNN’s most well-known faces introduce us to the people who had a profound impact on the course of their lives.” The idea intrigued me, in part, because of […]
After a wind storm took down big limbs and snapped trees in our neighborhood last week, my neighbors and I wore ourselves out trying to get down a heavy wild cherry branch that was hanging dangerously just beyond the reach of our ladder and ropes. Yet, as I think back on it now, our physical […]
Am thinking it might be important to have another conversation about issues of authority and obedience. Many of us have been taught to net out our relationship with God in two words— trust and obey. Trust God. Do what he says. Could anything make more sense than the thought that our Creator God deserves our trust and obedience? […]
Some of you may have seen the story of Ed Dobson either on a widely distributed CNN.com link or on the five Day of Discovery conversations that I did with Ed about his experience with a slow progressing form of ALS. I just got word from Ed’s wife, Lorna, that the Moody Radio Network is […]
Ilie and his sister Deborah are survivors of “The Night of Broken Glass.” In their book, An Uncommon Journey, they describe the fear they felt as they hid from the soldiers who had been ordered to ransack Jewish businesses and synagogues. They say they also will never forget the kindness of Alois, a young military […]
In the Discover the Word recording studio today, I’m looking forward to our interview with Robert Gelinas, author of a book that is releasing in the bookstores this week called, The Mercy Prayer. In preparation, I’m finding the book to be surprisingly provocative in the way it develops the tension between mercy and justice. His […]
When I began the last post saying, “Some of us have been around long enough to see that the Bible we treasure has been used to multiply the pain of racial minorities, women, the poor, the mentally ill, the divorced, abused, addicted, unemployed, and prisoners” I was writing from my heart, and from personal experience. I […]
A slang dictionary shows how the word “righteous” has often been used by young people to express their enthusiasm for something that meets with their approval. To some of us, using the word that way might sound irreverent. But the slang usage of “righteous” might actually do a better job of communicating the breadth of […]
The apostle Paul writes that God will not give us more than we can bear (1 Cor. 10:13). Many caregivers have used those words in days of overload to avoid the breaking point of their own health, sanity, and spiritual despair. But why then did the same author admit in another letter that, while caring […]
I have a friend who uses a simple word picture to tell the story of his marriage. Having lost the trust and affection of his wife, he says he began to show small acts of kindness as if he were planting seeds into barren ground. Even though there are no formulas for assuring outcomes in […]
