I believe that how Jesus died makes a difference. As I have been working to write a response to the second chapter of “Crucifixion” by Fleming Rutledge I have struggled to identify a personal application to share. Last night at a small group leaders huddle we explored the concept of emptying the jar that comes…
Category: Books
Cruciform
Who is the most important person who ever lived? What is the most important thing about that person?How you answer those two questions communicates a great deal about how you view the world and how you approach life. A new book is challenging me to rethink my own answers to those questions. The book is…
Bless the Dying – Prayer in the Night
I am reading Tish Harrison Warren’s newest book “Prayer in the Night.” The book drills down into a nighttime prayer recited by many. The chapter that especially caught my attention is entitled “Bless the Dying.” What follows are a few passages I highlighted followed by my responses to them. Ground zero of our human experience…
A Devout and Holy Life
I have just started reading “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” by William Law. The book was first published in 1728 and this makes the text challenging to read. The bigger challenge is that the principles presented are not of either the feel good or self help variety. It is very observable,…
Difficult Conversations – from Hard Times by Charles Dickens
June 15, 2021 Difficult conversations are a part of anyone’s life who is serious about personal relationships. Many books have been written about the techniques to use to make a difficult conversation productive. Nothing I have read or been taught has connected with me the way a chapter in Dickens did. This will make more…
Why Does God Allow Evil?
June 4, 2021 Several months ago, one of my nieces asked her mom why God would send anyone to hell. My niece had grown up in the church but has drifted away from her relationship with God. Her justification for that move was to ask one of the most common questions people ask when they…
Direction
3/16/2021 How do you decide what to do? We know that we are constantly making decisions. Most of these decisions we do not think about. Unfortunately, I think the pattern of thinking that we apply to the little decision in our life carries over into the big decisions that we make every day. I would…
Home
3/29/2020 We are back home in California and beginning our 14-day self-quarantine while beginning to recover from jet lag. It was a very interesting travel day and I am very thankful that everything went about as smoothly as is possible for International travel. We got up at 4AM Beijing time, showered, had breakfast and finalized…