It was Summer 1963. I was in Summer School in Oslo, Norway. I hitchhiked to a little town called Rauland. It had a population of about 500. The reason I went was because of the annual Harding Fiddle (Norw.---Hardingfele) Festival there. It centered on an instrument unique to Norway about the size of a viola. It’s uniqueness? The neck of the fiddle is fretted like a guitar. Also it has four strings underneath the others that resound with the strings above when their pitch coincides. Its…

Recently, when I was concerned about a certain massive bill that was being introduced in congress, I immediately asked who wrote the bill, by whose authority was it written, who was supervising its production, who was reviewing it as it was being written, who would be responsible for its ongoing supervision and who would be responsible for its long term outcome not only for the country but for each individual in the country? I wish that the individuals in our judicial, legislative and…

There's Water in the Frying Pan, Identifying Spiritual Forces

If there is one thing for sure taking place in Western civilization, it is the upheaval in our social environment. Because it is social it is invisible and the forces that work in the invisible environment are more powerful than any physical force. They are the spiritual forces that battle God for the personal heart, the mind and the spirit. When hearts are changed, the way a society runs is changed. These forces are…

Sometimes when you are in the midst of crises there is a certain insecurity, a consciousness of being very much alone and a sense of being at the mercy of circumstances over which you have no control. Life is above and beyond you and the moment consumes you. It is not eased either as you begin to assess the social, political and economic environment. Division and its conflict create an air of anxiety. This is the situation Paul was speaking to when he wrote his second letter to the…

Having been blessed with the recognition of the Kingdom, we enter its courts through the Gate. The Gate is not locked from the inside but the key is on the outside with the invitation to turn it. The key is faith, faith in the risen Lord Jesus. He planted His Kingdom in this world by going to the Cross then rising from the dead and bringing the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers. He is the Kingdom and His courts are found in the relationship He has offered to us. It is a Kingdom of…

Of civilizations and kingdoms, of courts and kings, of temples and altars, of galaxies and planets, comets and stars, of winds and tides, of past and future, of minds and hearts, of all that is and was and is to come the bottom line is this:

“No one can lay any other foundation than the one that has already been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).”

This passage displays three elementary truths: about everything in existence, what it means to be a person,…

You’ve just been to a movie, heard a speech, read a book, been to a concert, or had a special one-on-one conversation. In each of those something unique was apprehended. A message was sent and received. You saw, heard, felt a spiritual comparison to a biblical truth, a personal truth, a relational truth. It was an insight gained. A trust renewed. An illustration to be shared. In each, there was a moment when the heart was touched and in each, wisdom was transmitted. The impression of that…

When I see a sunrise I see the Resurrection. When I see a sunset I see the Cross. In both, the beauty is perceived in the heart, contemplated in the mind and located in Jesus. From Son-rise to Son-set, it’s all about Him. If we carry that thought into our moment to moment days, it is the experiences, those personal and interpersonal moments we practice consciously giving to Jesus and observing how He concludes it. We see Him in each new situation and see Him as it ends. It is not that He…

After I graduated high school I got out on the road hitchhiking. I found work on a dairy farm in the mountains, a soda shop on Cape Cod, then cutting trees, bar tending, lifeguarding, cooking, and eventually ending up at a shipyard in Jacksonville. When you hitchhike, anything that stops, car or truck, has about it the sense of momentary security. Every ride, every new place, every job was a court of rest and discovery in the world’s wilderness. Even though you know it wouldn’t be for long…

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1Jn.3:8 KJV).”

When you're fishing there's nothing worse than a backlash on your reel. It looks like a pile of spaghetti. While others in the boat are casting away you are stuck trying to work through the tangled mess. You pull on one loop and another tightens. This is exactly what happens when we try to solve our own spiritual lostness. Attempting to tackle one problem without being able to…

“This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes (Ecc.7:29).” [“God made man simple but man complicated it.”}

Albeit a fact that it was my aloneness that drove the engine of my conformity I also needed a community I could trust and that accepted me for who I was and not what I was expected to be. In those anxiety-filled years of adolescence I know now that I was led by the Spirit to enter that Gothic structure far removed in sight and…

“The man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes. Listen with your ears. Pay attention to everything I show you. That is why the Lord brought you here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see (Ezek.40:4)."

This third brush stroke, this third open door. I really don’t know how I got there. A friend perhaps had invited me. I just don’t remember. What I do remember is walking down a street and seeing a big spired church building with jutting parapets along the edges of its…

‘Justa lookin’ for a home, justa lookin’ for a home” Isn’t Everyone?

Ps.84: 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.…

Copies and Shadows of Things to Come

The Seasons of Our Years

When we think of a year it's divided into seasons---Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. We read them by signs of temperature change, the appearance of foliage colors, the harvest of crops, length of daylight and the shedding of leaves. The year moves in cycles of adaptation to a relatively similar environmental shift. However, they move me into a more localized view of seasons. The seasons that happen from day to day. The…

Following up, the Next Step

What we did last time was to share how the 7-fold witness sequence works. But there's more (see yesterday). After the child is found you start a conversation. The absent minded mother had other things on her mind while she was shopping. That happens and there may be a 'why?' attached. Why was she distracted? A family matter maybe or some other…

Let's live out the last posting and follow the sequence of thinking spiritually when we find ourselves in a real world situation. Heed Paul's appeal, “Have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus…(Phil.2:5).”

The sequence went like this:

Think spiritually, think Holy Spirit, think Jesus, think Father, think Scripture, think prayer, think like Jesus.

That is the sequence to practice wherever you go.

Then pray it:

–-O God, show me spiritual reality, fill me with…

The most explosive issues in the country today are healthcare, the economy, the Middle East, gender identity and national security. You can add the ones you want. Politicians and their media will keep you edgy and anxious about them. Because they cause so much internal upset we have a tendency to seek their immediate solution. These issues take on a life of their own and consume the media at every turn. People form political groups to push their agenda about how to resolve them. Like all…

If you don’t know where you came from you can’t know where you are going.

Every year on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina the Highland Games celebrate the Scottish heritage. Those who have Scot names identify themselves by wearing their clan tartans. There are traditional athletic events, food and the sounds of pipers accompanying old dances. My own heritage has taken me back to Norway to study, to find family and to get a feel for my origins. A friend I met here in Banner Elk…

“Christ didn't have any sin. But God made him become sin for us. So we can be made right with God because of what Christ has done for us (2Cor.5:21).”

There are two events that stand out in my mind.

The first one: As a young teenager I remember being on a work crew with ten other teens at a camp. I felt very much alone since I didn’t know the others and I was small and skinny besides. One of the kids on the crew was not really accepted by the others and I could sense that if I…

Recently Matt Damon was in a movie called “The Bourne Identity” in which he played a secret operative named Jason Bourne, found by some fishermen adrift, half dead and unconscious in the ocean. He awoke an amnesiac. He started a tortuous trek to discover who, why and what he was. He found himself completely alone and a target of unseen and unknown forces trying to kill him and he didn’t know why. As he went along he discovered he had the drive to survive and the skill to climb the hill. And…