Has there ever been a culture or generation that moves as fast as ours? Have any humans who walked this planet multi-tasked and crammed their schedules as full as ours? Maybe. I'm not...
Parker Palmer's book of encouragement for teachers called The Courage to Teach helped to recover meaning in their work lives, in the...
Genesis 36 summarizes the family tree that grew from Esau. It also includes the family of Seir the Horite, who lived alongside the family of Esau in Edom. Among the descendants were two men named...
Suffering and death remain a mystery. We can understand some kinds of suffering as the result of human freedom and choice. But other suffering is so great and so unfair and so terrible...
When God spoke yet again to Jacob, telling him to go to Bethel and worship there, Jacob responded promptly and obediently. What's more, he told his family to get rid of their "pagan...
I want to spend another day reflecting on Esau's simple statement, "I have plenty." Since most of us struggle with an unquenchable desire for more "stuff," I wonder how we can get to...
I'm struck by Esau's statement: "I have plenty," or as the ESV puts it, "I have enough." No doubt there's literal truth in this statement. Esau doesn't need more "stuff." And perhaps Esau doesn't...
What an extraordinary story! After Jacob had done everything he could to prepare for his meeting with Esau, a "man" appeared in the wilderness and wrestled with Jacob for a whole night. It turned...
As Jacob headed homeward to face his estranged brother, Esau, he was understandably worried. Esau had, after all, promised to kill him...
As Jacob and his wives were preparing to sneak away from their father, Laban, Rachel took her father's household idols. These statues were common in Ancient Near Eastern homes and were believed to...
God called Abraham, not only to bless him and his family, but also so that all families of the earth might be...
Jacob's family was in a mess. First, one of his wives pleads with him to become pregnant, and he becomes furious with her. Then she offers her servant to Jacob as another wife...
In Genesis 29, Jacob sought to marry his cousin Rachel, but ended up first marrying her sister Leah because of the trickery of his uncle Laban. When Jacob asked why Laban fooled him into marrying...
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!Christians confess that Christ is risen, not only in the hearts of the faithful, and not merely as some nice religious image, but truly and physically. On...
The whole premise behind the organization that calls itself "The High Calling" is that we serve God through our daily work. It's the idea that the Church is not a gathering of believers...
Genesis records two incidents in which Abraham misrepresented the identity of his wife, Sarah, claiming that she was his sister (Gen. 12:10-20; 20:1-18). This half-truth was a result of Abraham's...
“What’s that building?” she asks. “Which one?” I ask. “The dark one there.” She points. “The one with the strange angles that looks like it is leaning.” She points at a gleaming glass-façade.....
Two thousand years ago in Capernaum, the temple tax collectors approach the disciple Peter and ask if his teacher pays the temple tax required of each male over 20 years of age (Matt. 17:24-27)....
When famine struck the land of Canaan in the time of Abraham, he took his household to Egypt. When, once again, a severe famine devastated the land, Isaac also took his family to...
