For This Reason 28

When Paul says “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking (Eph.4:17)” he is addressing the wide gulf that exists between faith and non-faith. There are many we run into in our everyday world who are in either a no-Christ or semi-Christ condition.

This is far more common place than you may think so we need to be spiritually alert in our casual encounters which just, by the way, may happen to be God’s work given to us as an…

When I get up in the morning to jog it’s really dark outside. Although I live in a gated community where there is little traffic that early a few cars move about so I wear a reflector vest. It enables the headlights of oncoming traffic to show there’s a moving person in it. Highway constructions sites require workers to wear reflector vests for the same reason. If you transfer that image into what it means to be a disciple of Jesus we are images of God created to reflect Him. We are in a…

When I became a Christian I became a conscious disciple of the Lord Jesus. It was not just the gift of reason that got me there. It was more than logical acknowledgment of the historical Jesus and His sublime character and effect on civilization. It was more than being involved in the institutional church, its creeds, services and theology. Lots of people have those things. I had all that but it wasn’t enough. I was itching spiritually but unable to scratch. It was the gift of the Holy…

I know I’ve mentioned this before but have you ever been in a conversation and a tough question was asked and you didn’t have a ready answer? Perhaps you were trying to explain why you believed in Jesus but they just wanted to put you on the defensive so they could arouse your emotions to prove that you were wrong. Or maybe they were just feeling you out by the question. They had another deeper question about their own spirituality that was lurking in the background but really probing you to…

One of my projects as a novice sixteen year old worker trying to earn some money to continue my road travels was to climb up on a two story roof in the Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y. to replace some loose shingles. To get there I had to use an extension ladder and place it beneath the gutter, swing my leg over it and pull myself up on the roof. It was precarious to say the least but I did it, hauled some shingles up by rope and got the job done. However, what I didn’t count on was getting…

For This Reason 23

Depending on the age you live in you can read part of a culture’s relational influence through its music. I had a mixture of Scandinavian, American country, classical and romantic ballads. In my early years radio and a 78rpm record player were the media for home entertainment. Movies were second about once every two weeks. The 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s marked the ‘Golden Age’ when baritone crooners reigned. Songs by the likes of Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Dick…

Truth arrives in signature packages. What leads one into a profession? Those two thoughts, seemingly unconnected, one a statement the other a question, describe the opened ended experience of determining what we do with our lives. It’s very possible that you find other statements and questions to explain how you got where you are. One thing is for sure both truth and question huddle in heart and mind pushing us to articulate personal meaning and purpose.

Signature packages are those…

In the last writing I made a big noise about sin. It rides on the back of every moment we are in this world. I think of the statue of Atlas stooped over on one knee with the sky in the shape of an orb on his back. In Greek mythology he was the one condemned to hold the earth and sky apart. If you carry that image into what it meant for the Greeks, the earth is where we are in physical reality, our self-conscious present moment. The sky is the space of thought as endless eternity. From a…

A good rabbi friend said to me once, “Wherever you find two Jews you will find three opinions.” Of course I laughed and we talked on about that. But it led into a deeper foray on his part when we got to the discussion about Jewish conversion to being Christians. He asked “Why can’t Jesus just be accepted as the Christian Messiah?” In other words, leave Jews alone. You know those moments when you don’t have a ready answer? Well that was one of those moments because all kinds of ideas were…