The March day was crisp and cool, the Thursday of Easter week, when the couple received the news. They were young and with a toddler and another baby on the way. The doctor’s...
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers...
The ancient Greeks wrote about noble heroes brought into crisis by a single fatal flaw of character. God, on the other hand, wrote about ordinary people, full of flaws, brought through crisis to...
In late 1950, a 60-passenger freighter answered the call to a North Korean port. Ninety thousand civilians were there fleeing a Communist attack. Fourteen thousand refugees streamed on board and...
When I graduated from sixth grade, my exceptionally talented teacher gave me a palm-sized Bible and inscribed it with Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see good works...
Serious people always have one question about humor—one simple question: Why do we need it in the first place? ...
Jesus told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here...
In the spring of 1974, I was standing in line to preregister for fall classes at Western Washington University. I’d come at my appointed time, but knew I wasn’t ready. I had scribbled...
In our world’s value system, we tend to notice the best and the brightest: large buildings, super-size products, crowded stadiums, impressive degrees, cathedral-like malls. ...
A good friend of mine died yesterday. Jill had retired early from her post as professor of kinesiology at our local university last year. Having already survived cancer and open-heart surgery, she...
God’s creative thrust brought the world into an orderly, beautiful whole. Then something went terribly wrong on planet earth. It seems blown apart—the original wholeness and unity is asunder. ...
Just after Christmas, I was privileged to speak at a memorial service—celebrating the life of my dear friend, Bruce McIver. What a service! Amid outbreaks of laughter, Bruce's wife recalled his...
When my son Howard was about four, every morning as I left for work, he had a set little question: "Daddy, where are you going?" And every morning, I'd say, "Son, I'm going...
The great Old Testament scholar Gerard Von Rad published a series of his lectures under the curious title of God at Work in Israel. What did he mean? Did the title speak of...
Based on Mark 6:30–44 in the New Testament ...
The late Bruce McIver once told of an elementary school girl who followed her baptism with a spontaneous swim the length of...
After the terrorist attack on our country last fall, most Americans struggled with sinking spirits. I was no different. Most afternoons I sat beside my mother's bed in a nursing home as her mind...
“Hi, love, how’d you sleep?” ...
It makes sense, in a way. The Apostle Paul had come to town and preached powerfully about the Lord Jesus’ death, resurrection, and imminent return to gather all the faithful. “Maranatha! Come,...
Mary, Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, were Jesus’ good friends. He visited frequently in their home and loved them all dearly (John...
