The NU Blog Page

No one knows the face of God but the Son, Jesus.  He knew the Father and was highly energized.  People saw that and followed him.  It took only three words, “Come, follow me,” for them to leave their prior lives and follow him.  It was an overpowering experience to realize that God loves the world…

Wisdom is one of the most important themes of the Bible. There are even books of the Old Testament that are referred to as “Wisdom Literature.” (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.) In the gospels, Luke says that after being found at the temple, the child Jesus “…grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God…

Prayer For a Hurting World Lord, You have promised us your presence. So many around the world feel the need for that presence now – for comfort, for strength, for the provision of life-sustaining resources, for a new home. Their energy is sapped. Their routines are disrupted by the horrors of the past and the…

Near my home in East Texas, I once attended a spiritual retreat where one of the participation exercises revolved around pots. We were encouraged to do a “contemplative walk” around the grounds, where we would observe clay pots at three locations. Actually, they were large clay urns. We were to stop at each location and…

Have you ever considered how God uses broken people? I had the privilege this past week of attending an annual benefit luncheon for the Highway 80 Rescue Mission in Tyler, Texas. This organization is dedicated to caring for the homeless, the“street people” in East Texas. The keynote speaker was Elisa Morgan, who served as President…

The Rafa Crossing is in the news since hostilities have broken out again between Israel and Hamas. My family lived in Cairo, Egypt, during the late 1980s. We used some of the time to tour the area and once rode a Volkswagen tour bus across the northern Sinai and into Israel. The passengers included both…

It is now autumn in the northern hemisphere. A few years ago, my wife and I enjoyed a ten-day trip to New England, where we were able to experience the brilliance of a colorful landscape made even more so by the changing colors of the leaves. Many people travel there in the Fall just to…

What about the “little prayers” we might offer throughout the day? I often take a great deal of time composing formal prayers, prayers to begin a meeting, prayers to recognize an associate’s particular accomplishment, and prayers to recognize the passing of a devoted servant of God. It came to me this week that these “big”…

What is the core of the gospel, or core gospel? There is a joke in English language training about getting “the wrong emphasis on the right syllable.” Verbally it is articulated, “…the wrong EmPHAAsis on the right syLABble” (It doesn’t work as well in written form as in spoken.) Verbally, it is a bit like…

Lessons from an Unexpected Adventure Throughout history, humans have harbored an innate fear of snakes. These slithering creatures have often been depicted as symbols of malevolence and deception in various cultures. In the Bible, the snake has served as a symbol of the “evil one” or the “deceiver.” From the serpent in the Garden of…