Sometimes life surprises us.  I had just opened my computer and began to type.  Sunlight poured in the windows.  Fresh air circulated through the open door.   I had been reflecting on my wrestling match with God over illness and forced rest.  In that time, I hadn’t been at peace, not even to journal, but […]

I place great value on personal retreat.  For me, it means making space and time to heed Jesus’ invitation to, “Come away to a solitary place.”  I do this several times a year, often going away for a night or two.   I use the opportunity to pray and listen as I read back through […]

I know what it means to live in fear.  Not the rational fear, produced by an imminent and visible danger, like when a poisonous serpent slithers up the path in our direction.  We recognize that fear easily enough.  Then, we evaluate.  We decide.  We act.   But, there is another fear.  One that lies under […]

God calls us to a wider view of who we are as the body of Christ. In our narrow focus, we tend to see and feel most connected to those who seem most like us.

 At some point, it happens to most of us who are involved in ministry.  We dig into the work, doing our best to faithfully follow the Lord.  Then one day, we look up and find ourselves feeling hopelessly distant from the God that we serve.     For me, it happened around 2009 after fifteen years of […]

Webster’s dictionary defines radical as favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions or institutions.  When Jesus walked the earth, He walked as a radical.  .  He said things that made people uncomfortable.  He acted in ways that challenged the system, or at least, the common understanding of it.  He did it so much so, […]

This is a time in our history when many voices need to speak out and be heard.  Not to point fingers or to blame.  Not with demoralizing moralizations.  We need to hear voices that will openly and honestly share their stories and invite us in, come what may.  History shows that such endeavors come with […]

How easily the currents of change and uncertainty sweep us away.  That is, if we are not securely anchored. This morning, day four of lockdown in South Africa, I reflected back over the past two weeks.  From the beginning, when we were first asked by the president to practice social distancing, I said that I […]

All seems right with the world as I gaze from my window across the vineyard and onto the mountains standing majestic in the distance.  All seems right with the world, except for the absence of cars on the normally busy road dividing the two landscapes.   This is day one of a nationwide lockdown in South […]

As Christians, we are invited to tread in a precarious space, one where we hold realities of the present in tension with hope for the future.