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There are no words, is how many folks respond to great tragedy. Neal Katz is a Jewish Rabbi in Tyler, Texas has words of wisdom he recently shared.  I was particularly struck by the words he shared after this week’s shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  The one sentence that stands out most to me…

Three messengers from God told Abraham that his aged wife, Sarah, would have a son. Overhearing them, Sarah laughed at the very thought. My sense is that her laugh was less of an argument but more  something like, “You have to be kidding!  Surely, you speak in jest!”She simply could not so quickly take in…

(I share this Reflection, Brilliant Autumn Leaves, each year in the early autumn, about the time the leaves in the northern hemisphere begin to change color.  So, here it is!) 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…

Christian marriage, at least in the West, has undergone a dramatic shift during the past fifty years.  What at one time was a spiritually driven covenant has more and more in recent times become only a civil contract with little attention to how God plays into the relationship. “What God has joined together, let not…

The Center of Our Lives: this week we have two trains of thought, one regarding a life centered in Christ and a second on the general subject of the development of religion. “When Christ is the center of our lives, unambiguously and without competition, the rest of our lives tend to fall into harmony around…

The author of this weeks special reflection, The Balance of Cancer, is unknown. However, this wisdom writing was found by Chaplain Allen Thyssen in the journal of a cancer patient. The Balance of Cancer: A Loss, A Gain A loss of health A gain of a healthy life style A loss of security A gain of eternal…

“God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.” Andrew Murrey These were the words posted on a note card of a dying cancer patient some years ago. They are as true today as they were then. The patient had also collected another prayer that went like this. There is…

I have been thinking about being close to God because the theme this year of a church near my home is “To be near God is my happiness.” The pastor said he chose it because he seems happiest when he is near God.  In fact, he was so bubbly when explaining the theme to some…

The domestic church. How do you see the church? Many people understand the church as a building. It will come as no surprise to students of NationsUniversity that this is not a biblical understanding of the church.  As I understand it, the English word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as “an assembly”…

There once was a missionary who worked with the people of Mexico. One of the techniques he used was to have an individual look into a mirror and state, “I am a child of God.”  One woman he was working with broke down in uncontrollable tears when it was her turn to “come to the…