As a child, I heard the stories of Elijah hiding in a cave (1 Kings 19), Jonah sulking under a wilting vine (Jonah 4), and the Prodigal Son's older brother working angrily while the rest of the family celebrated (Luke 15). I wondered why they acted so miserable and self-centered. Not until recent years did …
Tag: faith
Bible deism
A few months ago, a reader sent me an email asking me some questions about what I called "Bible deism" in one of my posts about hearing God's voice (for the entire series on hearing God, start here.) I do not have time to write a thorough dissertation of the subject, as much as I …
Participating with God during the COVID-19 pandemic
The internet is an overwhelming place right now. Yesterday Will and I discussed it as I dropped sweet corn seeds into a newly-tilled patch of earth in our front yard. "It's like walking into a room where 30 people are all screaming at you," Will said. The current coronavirus pandemic has made many people nearly …
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When God doesn’t heal, and what it says about faith
Often I hear a particular narrative that bothers me. I just heard it again from a respectable pastor in a conservative, Bible-believing church. The scenario goes something like this. A man we will call Daniel gets very sick. He goes to the doctor and discovers that he is full of cancer. Now Daniel loves Jesus …
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God’s ways
A few weeks ago, Will and I drove our family to Kentucky to see my parents. I forgot just how good it felt to be home, where the smell of my mother's fresh whole wheat bread welcomed us and wrapped around us comfortingly. I walked through my mother's garden with her, enjoying her presence and …
Thoughts about deconstruction
Joshua Harris, the hugely successful author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, shook the evangelical world a few weeks ago when he announced he was deconstructing and leaving the Christian faith. Listening to the conversations regarding Harris (and others), I've realized that many people have misconceptions of what deconstruction actually is and how it fits into a …
My struggle with cynicism
Others have nicer names for it, names such as "compassion fatigue" or "burn out" or "emotional exhaustion." I suppose all of those terms are accurate, but in myself I see it as plain, unvarnished cynicism. Sometimes the needs of the world close in on me until I cannot breathe, then I crash under the weight. …
Wandering in the Wilderness
I have always viewed a spiritual wilderness as a blessing in disguise; an intensely painful and lonely place, yes, but a good place.The wilderness is a place or season in our lives where God strips away what is precious to us so that we are able to hear Him. Many times in the Bible, God …
Jesus, Who Lives in Mud, by Lucinda J. Miller
A few days before Easter: I stride in boots down the gravel road that runs past our house, look back at heel prints left in soft dirt. Water and half-melted snow pool in ditches. I scoop up a handful of soggy gravel and smell it, but the peculiar scent of earthy spring is not in …
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Hearing the Voice of Jesus, by Ryan McKelvey
“Lord, to whom else would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.” (John 6:68) We were halfway through our four-day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. We were long past the beauty of the Potomac River, but too far from civilization or the promise of pizza to quicken our steps. It was …
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arabah rejoice 