Tag Archives: christian
Walking Through Fire With a Gasoline Suit On
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you. Isaiah 43:2, NCV There is an unique immunity that is given to the simple. Believers find that suddenly [...]
The Scary Part of Depression
“Must I then, indeed, Pain, live with you All through my life? –sharing my fire, my bed, Sharing–oh, worst of things!–the same head?– And, when I feed myself, feeding you, too?” Edna St. Vincent Millay The critical issue we face is the reality of living with ourselves through an acute episode of depression or mania. I [...]
Absorbing the Evil
I have danced on the edge of theology for years. I appreciate it so much and yet I am confused by a whole lot, and then sometimes just plain disappointed. I do on rare occasion cross the line and wander into “The Twilight Zone”. People who know me well start to get concerned. It is not [...]
Kissing Twisted Lips
God accommodates Himself to our ‘sickness’. We find that He has this beautiful quality about Him, that He becomes quite tender and gentle around any spiritual disease. In his book Mortal Lessons (Touchstone Books, 1987) physician Richard Selzer describes a scene in a hospital room after he had performed surgery on a young woman’s face: [...]
Christian, Where is Your Umbrella?
Sometime ago there was a town which had experienced a prolonged and difficult drought. There was no water to be found for crops and livestock, and hardly enough for the people of this once prosperous village. There was nothing to be done, and is often the case the town fathers finally turned to the churches [...]
I Love the House! Psalm 84:1-4
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 2 I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. 3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest [...]
My Imagination Isn’t Enough
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Eph. 3:20 God has given us a gift, it is called ‘imagination’ (at least that is the word we use). This gift allows us to grasp concepts and trust the [...]
Pain and Prayer in Poetry
This poem is an acrostic of sorts. When I originally wrote it I titled it Prayer, but the acrostic letters that begin each stanza spell PAIN. It was written at a time I was in a lot of physical and emotional pain, and found that prayer was the best way to find relief, if not [...]
Our Gentle God Loves Kindness
When I think “gentleness“, what pops into my mind is my wife holding and caressing my infant daughter almost 20 years ago. Her touch is soothing. She softly hums a lullaby. The farthest thing from her thinking at that quiet moment, is anything harsh or cruel. This is critical because of what happens next. One of my [...]