For three decades or so, Jesus had lived a fairly ordinary life. We don't know much about him during that period of time, but we do know that, like almost all Jewish boys...
The weeping of the mothers in Bethlehem provided a powerful illustration of the Old Testament image of Rachel weeping for her children (Jer. 31:15). It also connected the birth of Jesus with the...
Our society puts a lot of pressure on mothers. There are a lot of expectations. A mother should be selfless and tireless and a ferocious advocate for her children. I know many women...
Writer LL Barkat has described her journey to love God in such wonderfully poetic ways. Her blog, Love Notes to Yahweh, is filled with these poems. Her latest one touched my heart. ...
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing,...
From our point of view, the beginning of Matthew's Gospel seems oddly uninspiring. Why not begin with Old Testament prophecy, as did Mark? Or with a statement of purpose, like Luke? Or even with...
I have always tried to incorporate a measure of humor in my business life. I can remember many stressful afternoons when nothing...
High Calling Bloggers have been invited to write about an experience we've had in a spiritual retreat. Those who do will be listed here. Check back because new essays will be appearing each day....
The book of Genesis concludes with the death of Joseph. Ironically, and tellingly, the last word in Genesis is "Egypt" (mitzrayim in Hebrew). Thus Genesis points ahead to Exodus.On his death bed,...
Joseph's brothers, fearing that he would mistreat them after their father's death, begged Joseph to forgive them, perhaps even conjuring up a request from their deceased father. Yet such a...
After Jacob died, Joseph's brothers became afraid that Joseph would exact revenge on them for how they had mistreated him when he was a boy. Their only protection, they reasoned, had been Joseph's...
When Jacob died, Joseph heeded his father's request, returning his body to Canaan to be buried. When they arrived at the burial site, they had an extended time of grieving the death of...
Grief and Tragedy make us uncomfortable. We don't know what to say to someone who is grieving, but we feel we must say something. And so we often say things in desperation, hoping...
As Jacob prepared to die, he gathered his sons around him and pronounced his vision of their future. Some of the sons...
I remember how I would feel as a semester of college came to an end. The moment after the last final was filled with such a sweet sense of freedom. I remember yelling...
Jacob, in his blessing of Joseph's sons, referred to the Lord as "the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day" (Gen. 48:15). What a contrast to Jacob's...
I've got all my kids hooked on home improvement shows. We'll pile on the couch, and talk through design choices, the fickle nature of taste, all the while anticipating "the reveal." We like them...
In our day, it is common and expected for the government to care for people in need, without taking them as slaves...
Everyone talks about success. Even preachers nowadays. They have sermon series about how you can be successful with God. But how do we define success, exactly? The truth is, your definition of...
When he finally had an audience with Pharaoh, Jacob blessed Pharaoh, twice, in fact. At first this might seem odd to us, because we'd expect Pharaoh, the most powerful man in Jacob's world, to...
