OF, Not IN
At the end of a year in which there were many sorrows, I hope you enjoy this post from an old friend, originally written in 2016. “Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV) I really dislike it when someone corrects me on the basis of semantics. Especially when I’m on roll and use the wrong word or tense and someone interrupts to point out my mistake. If you’d ever like to see what daggers look like in my eyes, give...
Read MoreThe Separation is in the Preparation
O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” (Isaiah 40:9 NLT) I am personally not a big fan of those motivational posters and catchphrases that coaches and HR recruiters tend to love. Frankly, if someone tries to get me pumped up by telling me I “need to primed for the climb,” I will most likely just think of why they need better rhymes. But right now, we as Christians find ourselves in the season of Advent, a season where the preparation of our hearts and...
Read MoreFarming With Unicorns
“The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?” (Job 39:8-10 KJV) There you go, proof that unicorns are real. They are in the Bible, and not just in Job. They are in Numbers (23:22 & 24:8), Deuteronomy (33:17), Psalms (22:21, 29:6, 92:10) and Isaiah (34:7). Here’s the thing, though. The passage in Job talks about binding unicorns in the furrow to harrow the valleys, which is a fancy way...
Read MoreThe Lord is My Refuge and Strength
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day… If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. (Psalm 91:1-2, 4-5, 9-10 NIV) I love the image of the Lord being a refuge. I love...
Read MoreBlackberry Harvest
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.” (Luke 6:44 NIV) Whenever Jesus talks about the evidence of His good Kingdom in the world and in people’s hearts, He uses the word “fruit.” That’s an easy analogy to make. Fruit is what is produced from things planted deep in the ground, and so we too are to be planted deep into Christ. The gardening metaphors are endless. But I think there is something more to be said of fruit. Sure, it has great analogies of production, but very few of us are farmers anymore. We aren’t particularly...
Read MoreEverything
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” (Psalm 24:1-2 NIV) Some days, I’m pretty sure that someone has turned my kids against me. I feel like somewhere, someone is letting my nearly 4-year-old watch unending episodes of the cartoon Caillou and my son is just trying to imitate how whiny and unreasonable that show’s main character is. I feel like maybe when I’m not looking, forest animals are challenging my nearly 2-year-old to screeching competitions and he wins by a landslide. Just...
Read MoreSustainable Energy
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV) It’s hard to turn on the news these days without hearing something about climate change, fossil fuels or renewable energy sources. Some people find it a divisive issue; some people just wish we could all get along. No matter what your political stance on the issue, there are a few truths that cannot be escaped: we only have one planet, and we as a society need energy. So...
Read MoreOf, Not In
“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV) I really dislike it when someone corrects me on the basis of semantics. Especially when I’m on roll and use the wrong word or tense and someone interrupts to point out my mistake. If you’d ever like to see what daggers look like in my eyes, give that a try. Now, I can’t guarantee I’ll never correct anyone on their semantics, but nobody’s perfect. Recently the worship team...
Read MoreFaith at a Glacial Pace
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2, NIV) This last weekend I had the privilege of flying to Anchorage, Alaska to assist in photographing a wedding. I had never been to Alaska before and when we landed at the airport, I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. I had never before seen mountains that...
Read MoreSink or Swim or Ask For Help
“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!'” (Matthew 14:30) I was on the swim team in high school. I was pretty much an OK freestyler and a pretty good backstroker. I wasn’t the best on my team by any means but I learned something quickly about swimming, if you were just OK on your team, you were generally way better than all the people who weren’t swimmers. So, courtesy of a few races versus football players to find out who the ‘true athletes’ were, I had convinced myself I was really great. There is...
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