When I was a little kid, there were times when I was convinced some kind of evil creature was lurking in the shadows of my darkened bedroom. My heart pounding with fear, I would manage to gather the courage to turn on the light and to my great relief the evil creature was really just my jacket hanging over the chair. Some of the things we fear are nothing more than our over-active imagination.Continue reading
The other day while I was mountain biking in the foothills, I came across a plant that was beautifully green and healthy, stretched across the path, taking over areas that it had clearly not had access to before. With the drought, virtually every other plant in the area had dried up and died.
What was it about this one plant that kept it alive, and actually thriving when every other plant around it was dying? Continue reading
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8, NIV)
God has called men and women throughout history to set aside their own goals and aspirations and take up his cause, making his plans their plans, his mission their mission, his concerns their concerns, his heart their heart.Continue reading
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. (Psalm 84:3, NIV)
What worth does a sparrow have in the eyes of the world? Not much. It is too small to eat for food. It doesn’t have an impressive plume of feathers. It doesn’t make a very distinctive sound. It isn’t known for its aerobatic maneuvers. It is a very common creature. But, the sparrow has found a home at the house of the Lord.Continue reading
Just before Jesus began his public ministry, he went out into the desert wilderness where he fasted for 40 days. While there, he was tempted by the devil with a variety of come-ons—the devil hoping to de-rail Jesus’ mission (Matthew 4:1-11).
The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (v3). Jesus was obviously very hungry after fasting for so long. Refusing to make food to feed himself from the stones lying next to him would have been difficult enough. But there was also the much larger temptation being presented to him: to create food enough for everyone, removing hunger from the entire planet.Continue reading
Superheroes are the rage: Ironman, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Wolverine, Storm, and dozens more. Having a super power would be super: the ability to fly, the strength of a locomotive, the speed of light, indestructible armor, dazzling tech enhancements, brightly colored tights (maybe not those).Continue reading
Sometimes life is so easy and fun. I look forward to getting up and charging into the exciting adventures awaiting me that day. But I would be lying if I said every day was that way. There are some days when life seems almost unbearable. Sometimes life is hard, really hard. What gives me strength to face life when it feels like the whole world is conspiring against me?Continue reading
It’s a good thing I’m not God. There are some days when I would let everyone into Heaven. But there are other days when I wouldn’t let anyone into Heaven, no matter how saintly they are.Continue reading
The other day while on my way to work, suddenly the flow of traffic on the freeway slowed to an agonizing crawl. My phone informed me there would be a 90-minute delay because of an issue further up the road. I was stuck with no way off the freeway. Forced into “observation mode,” I began to notice things that are normally a blur as I speed down this same stretch of freeway day after day.Continue reading
In the movie, Blade Runner, replicants are genetically engineered biological machines that look like, talk like, and act like human beings, which people use essentially as slaves. The designers of the replicants have advanced these machines to the point that they are for all intents and purposes, living beings. They are capable of independent thought, they learn, they reason, they create, and most significantly, they are self-aware—they are conscious of the reality of their own impending death.Continue reading
