When the Lights Go Out
I can remember my initial awakenings to God like they were yesterday. Born and raised in a Christian home, I lived most of my life with a general awareness of God. I would even say that I had a relationship …
What I Learned About Transforming Grace When I Listened to My Shame
It was my father’s eighty-fifth birthday. My brother and I arrived early and set up the tables and chairs. We worked efficiently. We tied a few balloons to a lamp post in front of the retirement community center and Presto! …
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How Do We Connect with One Another In a Way that Allows the Love of Jesus to Heal Us?
The church of Jesus Christ is meant to be the sacred community where every sin-generated wound can be touched by the love of the Healer—through the love of his brothers and sisters. But this healing won’t take place if we …
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Stay Close to Jesus
Without fail, Scripture describes our walk with God—abiding in Jesus’ love—as inseparably linked to passionate desperation. Should we be surprised, then, that over the years, so many enduring voices in the history of Christianity have spoken boldly of their desperate …
To Practice Resurrection in Nature
Saint Francis had a penchant for the glory of the world and God’s presence and movement within it. In a time of upheaval and change in the church, when spirituality had strayed from its dedication to the simplicity of the …
Becoming All Flame
I want to grow in what the ancient men and women of faith often called “union with God”—that state of being where God is so present to and alive in us that it is difficult to know where God ends …
The Mission of Blessing
I met Matthew[i] in Bulgaria, when I sat across from him at my friend Audrey’s kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon. Between us was a glass casserole dish filled with banitsa, a savory pastry stuffed with mild white cheese. Audrey …
What Really Sickens Our Savior
What is it that makes Jesus want to puke? When those who call themselves Christian decide to play it safe and compromise. When people grow so satisfied with how they’re doing in this world that it never occurs to them …
How Can I Love the Bible When All I See Are Commands I Haven’t Obeyed?
Those most obedient to the Word of God aren’t the most disciplined—but those most deeply connected to his love. My friend Dan[i] served fourteen years in the Michigan prison system—the last eight without a major ticket, which is an absolute …
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Do You Struggle to Feel the Presence of Jesus?
There’s yet one more reason some of us struggle to “feel” the presence of Jesus: We haven’t given ourselves permission to feel much of anything at all. “Pour out your heart before Him,” David beckons (Psalm 62:8). But how difficult …