It's about time for another overview of some of the books I have been reading. I'm not going to list nearly all of the books I have read in the past few months, but I will name a few I can recommend. I'm part of a local library book club, which I love, but I don't always love …
Category: Inner Life
All Things New
Stepping out onto my front porch, I smelled smoke. My heart stopped. Dear Jesus, not this again! But there it was, smoke billowing on the horizon, clouding over the sky. I sat on the porch swing and prayed silently. We had just gone through this a year ago when one of the largest wildfires in …
A life of its own
"Suffering doesn't need explanation. The experience of it calls for healing not reason because suffering splits you in two, creates a breach between you and your own existence. The rigid stance you take against your personal pain straining to erase your event, and not to include it in your present, makes you your own murderer. …
God’s Voice and the Inspiration of Scripture
After writing my series on hearing God's voice, I got some pushback from readers who thought that I was undermining the importance of Scripture. In the series, I describe God's voice as something that comes to us in a variety of ways, as modeled for us in Scripture. I was a bit puzzled by the reactions …
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Two questions
Two questions: 1. Do you believe that God speaks to you personally today? 2. How does your belief about God's voice affect your view of Scripture? You talk, then I'll talk. Deal? 😉
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit: a personal testimony
I woke up one night last week to see the moonlight edging through the curtain in my bedroom. Unable to drift back to sleep, I decided to read for a while to get my sleepy brain to override again. So I read Simon Fry's article on Being Filled with the Holy Spirit. Guess what? My sleepy …
Continue reading Being Filled with the Holy Spirit: a personal testimony
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit (by Simon Fry)
In 1855, a young man was born again and gave his life in service to the Lord. He was fervent and zealous in his work, starting children’s ministries and preaching to thousands. He started a church and traveled to other countries sharing the gospel. Many were saved because of his efforts. He poured himself into …
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My mama at midnight
When I was small, I often woke up in the middle of the night with joint pain, especially in my knees. If I could get warm enough by piling on extra blankets, the pain sometimes diminished so that I could fall asleep again. Many times my best efforts failed; the pain increased until I couldn't …
No longer a slave
As I mull over the mixed response of God's people to the needs of refugees, immigrants, and terrorists, I realize that the surface disunity is but a symptom of a much deeper malady. This malady is the terrible disease of fear. Fear has been coddled in many conservative churches for years in the name of "keeping …
Jesus Only (part 2)
In my last post, I talked about finding strength for the task that God gives us. This post will touch on the subject of finding meaning through suffering. The verses that made such an impression on me regarding these two subjects are found in Matthew 17: But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no …
arabah rejoice 