In the book of Numbers, chapter 11, Moses cries out in complaint to God: “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them? … […]
Many years ago, in a Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown are shown gazing over the top of a wall, both looking quite downcast. Patty says, “I need to talk to someone who knows what it’s like to feel like a fool, someone who knows what it’s like to be humiliated, someone who’s been […]
Back when my children were little, for a number of years I carved fish out of scrap wood—painting them in funky colors. I also carved Hawaiian-style tikis out of palm trees, and sharks out of driftwood. For a short time, I even had a booth at the Farmer’s Market and operated under the name Salty […]
Many years ago, my cousin and his family came to visit. His daughter Katie was about four at the time and very sweet. When they arrived, she gave me a hug and said, “I’m filling up your invisible bucket!” So I asked, “Katie, what’s the invisible bucket?” She explained, “We all have them. When you […]
In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul writes: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away—see, everything has become new! All of this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… So we are ambassadors for Christ…” […]
In Ephesians 2:11–22, the Apostle Paul makes a powerful claim: through the cross of Christ, all the divisions between insiders and outsiders have been reconciled. He writes in verse 14: “For Christ is our peace; in his flesh… he has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” Paul writes in the […]
I remember before going into ministry, I went to talk to my pastor. I began by asking, “What do pastors even do?” After filling me in on all the various responsibilities, he added, “However, more often than not, the real ministry is in the interruptions.” I’ve thought about that a lot. It’s difficult, but it’s […]
In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, the disciples are returning after being sent out on their own for the first time. They had been out preaching, teaching, healing the sick—going from town to town. When they came back to Jesus to report all they had done and seen, he said to them, “Come away […]
In Greek mythology, Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Picking up on this, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote: “That was as harsh a punishment as the ancient Greek mind could conjure up. Today, it seems, we have volunteered to play the role of Atlas. We have not offended […]
I once heard a crazy story about a fraternity that wanted to have a pet goat. One of the fraternity brothers approached the Dean to ask permission for the goat to live in the fraternity house. The Dean listened patiently while the young man explained that they would care for the goat, feed the goat, […]
