Sometimes we want to offer support and comfort. Other times we want to show how thoughtful, theological, and intellectual we are. But whether it’s heartfelt warmth or haughty wisdom, we find ourselves not knowing the right words to say when someone is grieving. It’s intimidating, daunting, unnerving. We mean well and we try our best, […]
The trees sway gently in the breeze as birds flutter playfully from limb to limb. The brilliant color of the bright, sunny sky offers a sneak preview of tiny blue eggs that will soon fill nests carefully hidden among the branches. I turn my head away from this scene outside my window, bringing my gaze […]
He’s alive. I’ve seen Him! Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb early in the morning. The stone sealing the entrance had been rolled away. Inside they found an angel who declared, “Do not be afraid. Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not […]
It had not rained for many months. The grass was burned and scorched. Leaves hung slack on the trees, drooping like listless flags in a still wind. Streams and creeks looked like muddy roadways littered with rocks and twigs. Our church had prayed Sunday after Sunday, meeting after meeting, asking God to open the skies […]
I am not the first man who held his wife’s hand as she died. I’m not the first widower. But when it happened that’s what I thought. I decided I was the only one who had ever been through something like that. No one understood. No one could fathom the emptiness and despair. We seldom […]
When a well-meaning, sincere Christian tells you how blessed you are to be a child of God, that’s not always good news. Family relationships can be messy, destructive, and unpleasant. Some mothers are alcoholics. Some fathers are abusive. Some children are defiant. But God still uses the family to illustrate His relationship with us. The […]