There is a great story in the Book of Exodus about a time when the Israelites were dying of thirst. They come to a location where there is water, but it is bitter that they can’t drink it. When they cry out to God, God shows Moses a simple piece of wood. When Moses threw […]
The Apostle Paul once wrote, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In his book, Return of the Prodigal, Henri Nouwen makes the claim that gratitude is in many ways a discipline. It involves a conscious choice. He wrote, “I […]
In his book Proof, Timothy Paul Jones writes about his middle daughter who is adopted. She had been adopted before, but unfortunately, that family put her back in the foster care system. Even while she was with them, they had not treated this little girl like she was truly their child. Whenever they had special […]
One of the most beautiful experiences of my life was living with a local family in Costa Rica during my last semester of college. They had three kids, a modest home, and fairly modest means. They also had huge hearts and were some of the happiest people I’ve ever met. They were also some of the […]
Not long ago, as I was reading through the Bible for my devotional time, I found myself being drawn to all the places where people cry out to the Lord. It was striking to me that all throughout scripture people cry out to God often – both individuals and the whole community together. They cry […]
The poet and philosopher John O’Donohue says: In a strange way, nothing is ever lost or forgotten; everything that happens to us remains within us….The image in nature… that we can look at, is the tree; all the rings of memory enfold all the years of growing, blossoming, thirsting, thriving, dying… In a similar way, […]
In the Bible, time and time again, we are called on to remember what God has done for us. Remember how God walked with us. Remember how God has carried us in the past. And remember God’s promises to us for the future. And this is a gift to us. I think about standing […]
Yesterday we reflected on the gift of our memories. When we look back, often even troubled times can often be seen in a new light. With the gift of a little time, we are often able to gain a new perspective on the past. Perhaps we can see it through the lens of humor, and […]
In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul shares with the church that on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took a loaf of bread, blessed and broke it, and said, “This is my body, that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me… And then he took the cup, and he also said: Do this, as […]
Famous anthropologist Margaret Meed was once asked about the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture. Surprisingly, the answer was not a clay pot, a fish hook, or even a grinding stone. Instead, she said it was a healed femur, the leg bone above the knee. Mead explained that one would not find a […]
