The cross is not an edict against the sinner. It is a romantic proclamation to the sinner. Why do so many in the church take up the mantle of the Pharisee and find it pleasing? How can a conflicted, angry, bitter, excluding bride honor the Groom? Somehow the church must forsake the stones of condemnation…
Barabbas
Can you believe it? I’m free! After months of chains, the stench of the prison, the hopelessness of my existence—I’m free! I waited for the guards to call my name and to lead me to the Place of the Skull. They arrested me, chained me, and sentenced me to die. I heard the crowds scream…
Christ in you, the Hope of Glory
“to whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory! Collossians 1:27 As I run to him I am running toward a hope that is far greater than the fanciful, temporal acclamations of this world’s squalor. When…
Elbow Room and Alarm Clocks
In bed the alarm rings, I feel as if my body is 180 lbs. of cement. God whispers, What did you expect? You haven’t taken a day off in 12 days. Ouch! That morning I asked: Do I have to run quickly to and fro? Do I have to get up today and go?…
Yesterday I went to the Dr.
Found out a have a blocked saliva gland and swollen Lymph Node. Wonderful…. Other than that. Looks like I have a place to preach Sunday morning. Caleb will be playing the drums at Alpine. Still haven’t heard from Darlene since Tuesday about how her week is going in Nashville. She has been around friends so…
I Saw You
(A Prayer of Benediction for the Lord’s Supper or Easter Celebration) Lord, I want to ask for Your forgiveness. Tonight my eyes were opened as we sang the words to those hymns that I’ve sung thousands of times. For the first time in my life I was struck by the vastness of Your grace and love…
Neediness
He is fathering me even in the days I cannot see Through every trial I face. He is there even in my disgrace. Every lonely, broken place. I am held together bone by bone and I do not walk alone. How my neediness has grown. In my aging days I have come to see how…
The Stuff that Warriors Dream
This warfare for the Hero’s bliss What thing is valued more that this? it supercedes the stoic state the frowning face of folly’s fate The quest for truth, “The Shining Next” the simplied in life complex For all I see in beauty’s good I dream of life lived as it should. For I am not…
The Net
Narrator: The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down in the lake and caught all kinds of fish. Narrator: When it was full, the fisherman pulled it up on the shore. (Actors pantomime pulling a net out of the water with much vocal effort.) Narrator: Then they sat down and collected the good fish in…
4.8.14 details
Worked the Reset Conference this morning, then ideation for Stewardship and CP, the lunch with John, Roger, Justin, and Michael. Caleb to the Orthodontist. Loaded up Justin to go to Baton Rouge.