Category: Meditations

“Blessed are the spiritually impoverished … because they are precisely the ones the kingdom is for!” (Mt.5:3, paraphrased)...

What if we viewed the cross more from God’s perspective? What did He really have in view when He planned this all out? What can we learn by attempting to see more of what God sees in the cross? This is a talk I did at a Lenten retreat...

Under the Old Covenant, the Temple was a sacred place. Deep inside the Temple was the Holiest Place where the ark of the covenant was kept and where God Himself was present. An interesting question to consider — Did God reside there because they made it holy enough for...

I just finished reading Exodus by Leon Uris, which is a historically-based fictional account of the founding of Israel. It was riveting. It was also sobering. More than anything, it highlighted major themes: (1) The world-wide anti-Semitism and preference for oil that almost made the state of Israel an...

What a beautiful tribute to God! This Psalm tells how God delivers and rescues us no matter where we are. The writer recounts four separate situations where people needed God’s help, and how He delivered them. “Some wanted in desert wastes … hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within...

About 30 years ago while working with some friends in a recovery group, we hit on the idea that process is more important than outcome. That is, we realized that we actually had relatively little control over the outcome of any given situation or relationship. Much of what we...

In Psalm 42 David says, “My soul thirsts for God,” and then he adds, “For the Living God!” He does not long for an idea of God or an uninvolved God. He wants the God who is living and active and presently involved with him. Connected and loving, in...

A Little Man with a Big Story. In the story of Zaccheus meeting Jesus, Luke gives us one of the most striking examples of transformation found anywhere. Here is this little man with very little character, who had embarked on a self-centered career to enrich himself by aligning with...

For those of you who are old enough to remember, the famous Paul Harvey used to have a segment he called, “The Rest of the Story.” He would tell an interesting story you most likely had never heard before, and then after a short station break he would tell...

I was reading from one of my favorite books this morning, and ran across this incredible description of the gospel, and wanted to share it with everyone. “The gospel message of the New Testament is this: God, in his relentless, dangerous, and immeasurably joyful love for his creation, has...