This is the handprint of one of our grandchildren on the front door of our house in Phoenixville Pennsylvania, it has been there for months. We do not know which child left us this memory and it does not really matter. We have not washed it off because it is more precious than an archeological […]
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BLESSED ARE THE MEEK
…for they shall inherit the earth. The teaching of Jesus is often so counter-intuitive to this world that it must be other-worldly. The meek will one day win it all. How can this be? The world we wake up to each day boldly declares the opposite. What is Jesus talking about? He is referring to […]
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN
I want to write something about each of the beatitudes of Jesus. (there are eight of them) The first was “blessed are the poor”. This week is “blessed are those who mourn” – but I could not decide where to begin; then I remembered I had already written about it. What follows is a letter […]
DAUGHTERS
DAUGHTERS Daughters are wonderful gifts that have not been granted to every man. I cringe when I consider my own incompetence and failure at cherishing these gifts over the years. We spend decades frantically chasing after the urgent while neglecting these beautiful gardens that God has dropped in our laps. I love to see […]
BLESSED ARE THE POOR
…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. These are strange words to middle-class American ears. Yet they are the opening words of the most famous sermon ever preached by the most famous preacher ever to walk the Earth. What do they mean? They mean the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of poverty. If you […]
JUDGEMENT DAY
“I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn’t God love? Shouldn’t divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That’s exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God’s wrath was a casualty of the war […]
ANOTHER DAY
Good morning. Welcome to another day. Another day I did not deserve or ask for, yet somehow expected. Another day of joy, laughter, food, and fellowship. Another day of beauty and peace. Another day of heartbreaking sorrow. Another day of weeping with those who weep. Another day of fear. Another day of wonder. Another day […]
THE MISSISSIPPI
Work brought me to the banks of this iconic American river this week. The Mississippi winds and turns its way through the middle of our country for over 2300 miles from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world. The main artery for the blood flow […]
THORNS
I wear a crown of thorns. Not on my head, that would be odd, but on my arm, right under the name of one of my children. I do not wear it to be morbid. It is a painful symbol, but it is a painful symbol of hope. Hope for a world without pain, […]
THE SWEAR JAR
Does your family have a swear jar? Do you remember those? Whenever a curse word is uttered in the house the perpetrator must drop in a quarter. It is a tool that some use to help control their language. My family has never had one, which is a shame, because based solely on my own […]