Holy Crap!

“You don’t actually believe all that crap, do you?” There is a good bit of historical record from the time of Jesus. Archaeological. Temples. Cities. Edifices. But unlike the way those today would proclaim their King-dem, the life Jesus led would not be signaled in artifact or chiseled into stone. The life Jesus lived is […]

Created Not Constructed

Read Psalm 139: 1-18. Consider: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed […]

Our Tower of Babble

We are in a babbling time, even a blabbering time. So much assaults our ears, our minds, our tendencies. There is so much to get our hackles up over, to take sides on, to gossip about and share with our friends. Enough already. This mobile device I have in my pocket has its uses, but […]

The Longer I Wait, the Deeper I Know

J.K. Rowling first dreamed up Harry Potter in 1990, while on a train from Manchester to London. She finished the story in 2007 with the final book in the seven novel epic. Now, that’s a long story. Those who followed it all the way to its conclusion were held in suspense until the very last pages. […]

Keeping Christmas Real

What if Christmas isn’t the “most wonderful time of the year”? What if it’s lonely? I’m sick, I’m lost It’s terminal? What if I’m missing someone? She’s gone away, He’s gone to heaven They’ve passed to I don’t know where? What if it’s smothering? They don’t understand Won’t accept me back This is as good […]

Getting it Straight from the Source

We live in a world where new and improved is always better than old and decrepit. Of course. New has the benefit of advanced methods, complete research, and dedicated study applied liberally over all that has come before it. Old, well that was just a starting point. Those were the blocks we stood in to […]

This is the day to have a good day

Have a Good Day. Such a hackneyed phrase we use upon parting, offered limply to someone we don’t know well. Why title your book this way? Apparently because Dr. Rilling knew he had something to say in the sermon he chose for the first chapter, its namesake (with added exclamation!). But truth be told, it’s probably also why […]

In Mary, God became flesh (actually)

How soon the Christmas carols that were being piped over speakers and intercoms everywhere are silenced. At the gym yesterday, there was no music. Just the sounds of people doing what they do in the weight room, on the track, in the locker room. I noticed the silence. This is odd because, as my kids will tell you, I […]