My second-grade teacher, Mrs. DeYoung, handed out pieces of paper one day while instructing us to “Draw a picture and write a description of what you want to be when you grow up.” We all knew that we would eventually …
Read moreYour Identity: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Beside a highway that I travel several times each week sits a big sign that’s hard to ignore. Whenever I notice it I use it as a reminder to pray for a particular person. At another point along that road …
Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin …
When the pressure mounts culturally, politically, relationally, what do we choose to say? What about when that pressure isn’t just outside us but also within us, grating and griding against our most easily bruised pain points as the most egregious …
Read moreWhen Differences Mount, Remember that Good Words have Power
Celebrated artist Makoto Fujimura pulls together a collection of writings and artwork in the re-release of Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture 15th Anniversary Edition. The concept of refractions underscores a philosophical framework for creativity and life that …
Read moreHow to Get Something Beautiful from Your Second Wind
I was praying through Psalm 68 recently. When I came to the words, “Sing to God, sing praises to His name” (verse 4), guess what I did? Yes, I did exactly what the text said. . . . Here are …
I suppose that if the term “writer’s block” applies to journal keeping, then that was my problem. I wanted to write about something that would edify my soul. On that day, however, no particular subject emerged from my mental fog. …
Before he retired each night, [eighteenth-century evangelist George Whitefield] opened his journal and probed his soul with questions such as these he’d placed in the flyleaf: Have I, 1. Been fervent in prayer? 2. After or before every deliberate conversation …
Every now and then my heart is so broken, or my grief so deep, or my burden so heavy that I drop down in my desk chair, open the Bible, put my head in my hands and cry out, “O …
Read moreDrawing Patience, Comfort, and Hope from the Scriptures
When I taught piano for several years after finishing university, I discovered a few things about learning an instrument that I hadn’t really noticed as a child. We all know that to learn to play piano well, you need to …