Today, I am deeply grateful for those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. Hope reaches others because of you. Thank you! A rabbi and soap maker once went for a walk through their local town. The soap maker was feeling really negative about religion, and he asked the […]
Pastor Rob Bell tells a story in one of his books about a wedding ceremony he conducted on a beautiful summer afternoon. It was held in a park in a grove of trees, and at the end of the service, the couple was handed a cluster of helium balloons on strings. The balloons were symbols […]
Yesterday we raised the question: What do we do with our failures? I have to imagine that we all have those moments when life doesn’t work out like we’d hoped. Maybe we fall short of our own expectations. Maybe we are given an opportunity to do the right thing and we fail to do it. […]
I’ve been thinking about Peter’s denial of Christ. There’s no doubt about it, Peter was in a tough situation. I’m sure he was afraid for his life. Jesus had just been arrested. The chief priests and elders had come out with swords and clubs, and they were getting ready to hand him over to the […]
In the book of Leviticus, we learn a lot about the worship of the early community of faith. In chapter 6, the priests are instructed to keep a fire on the altar burning at all times. This fire was a reminder to the community of God’s continual presence with them. They were on a dangerous […]
Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so […]
Well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told a story about when he was a boy of about 9 years old. It was a cold winter morning, and he and his uncle, who was a no-nonsense serious man, went walking across a snow-covered field. When they reached the gate at the far end of the field, […]
Psalm 108 begins: My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among […]
There’s a great story about Saint Francis and a novice monk. One day Saint Francis came to this novice, and said, “Son, I want you to come to town with me today, we’re going to preach.” And the novice was thrilled. He had not had that privilege and opportunity before. So out they went. They […]
The Apostle Paul once wrote, “Though I am free, I made myself a servant to all so that I might win some of them…” (See 1 Corinthians 9:16-23.) Think about Paul for just a moment. Here was a man whose entire life was turned around. He had been a Pharisee – very religious – very […]
