Redemption of Mother’s Day: How to Heal Your Hurts
About two hours after Mother’s Day ended, my mother died in her bed of a massive heart attack. She was 65. Mom called her doctor, only hours after I talked with her the morning of that special day. He told her to get to the hospital ASAP after hearing her symptoms—profuse sweating, vomiting, shoulder pain. […]
How to Consume Life-Giving Lamb
I ate the lamb shank—the lamb I ordered—Sunday night. For those of you who are vegetarians, I’ll try to be sensitive. Truth is, I found that shank extremely tender and tasty. Still, I wonder if I ought to partake of an animal that was “sacrificed” for my sake. Why can’t I even eat a tasty […]
Dust to Dust And The Peace that Comes with Letting Go
They carried her to the altar, their mother. They carried her, all ash in a small wooden box. They covered her with a white cloth, embroidered with a cross. A cross. Where Christ paid for our ultimate reconciliation—restored relation between holy God and sinner. Between sinners and sinners . . . All watched […]
If You Need Some Love To Set You Free
I hired a prisoner yesterday. Well, actually, a former prisoner. Just out of the slammer. Spent two years behind bars and that wasn’t his first stint—in prison, that is. $150 to his name. Rent due September 1. No job yet but he’s hunting hard. Anyone want to hire a prisoner set free? Yeah, he’s made […]
When Darkness Engulfs
I’m not going to get political in this piece. I’m going to get personal. And spiritual. Because the spiritual should affect the personal and the personal should affect the political. What I’ve witnessed these past few days is the reverse order of God’s order and all hell has broken loose. Now, the creeping darkness has […]
The Power of Three
Three deaths. Three funerals. Three weeks. A trinity of holy. 35 years old. Husband. Father of three. Killed in a car crash. 62 years old. Friend. Sister of one of my best friends. Heart attack. 88 years old. Ministry partner for years. So how can such suffering, so close together, be holy? All are grieving, […]
Empty? Full? Which Do You Want?
The build up to Easter is over. His death. His resurrection. His leaving the tomb. The empty tomb. The reason for rejoicing. And yet, we still deal with empty. Don’t we? We’re constantly running around trying to fill ourselves up. Aren’t we? Power. Acceptance. Comfort. Control. We all know EMPTY, don’t we? Alive […]
A FAREWELL FOR JO (AND THE HOPE FOR US ALL)
My dear friend Nancy, my neighbor, lost her sister Jo Monday night. 62 years old. Vibrant wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend. Heart attack. Alive in the morning. Gone by night. There’s agony here around this farm, this Holy Week, as we march to Maundy Thursday, the day our Lord wept in a garden as he […]
Come Alive!
Jesus Christ is risen! The stone has been rolled away! He conquered DEATH, left the tomb empty, and lives forever bringing new life to all who will believe and accept His free gift of salvation. Hallelujah! I could site all the evidence from once-atheists turned believers when they went on a personal mission to disprove the […]