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Forgiveness sometimes doesn’t come easy. Did you ever experience a childhood hurt that carried over into adulthood? A friend of mine recently shared that he enjoyed playing war games with armies of toy soldiers when he was a young boy. He would devise the battle plan, line the troops up, and pretend to do battle.…

A great leader is too often hard to come by. This was posted a while back by one of my “friends” on Facebook. It strikes me that, after 77 years of diverse life experiences, I can validate these observations which seem to be particularly relevant today. I travel a lot. On one of my recent…

Legend says that Agnes of Rome was a beautiful young girl of Roman nobility who lived at the turn of the fourth century. During a period of intense persecution of Christians, she chose to remain a virgin and devote herself totally to God. One of her many suitors turned her in as a Christian. She…

How often have you reflected on the silent stars of the sky? I spent this past week away from the city. I stayed on the Gulf Coast of Texas where a cold front had just come through and the sky was as clear and blue as a newborn baby’s eyes. The nightly view of the…

How often do we consider the children? There was once a well-known theologian by the name of Karl Barth. On one occasion he gave a series of lectures at a prestigious gathering. During the question-and-answer session following his remarks, someone asked him how, after so many years of study, would he summarize the most important…

Kyrie Eleison, Lord Have Mercy It strikes me that the phrase from the Lord’s Prayer, “…and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” could just as easily have been written, “and have mercy on us as we have mercy on others.” Certainly, mercy was a major theme in Jesus’ teachings,…

So, what is God up to? Seashells line the beach in meandering five-foot threads that stretch hundreds of yards ahead: shells of every size, geometry, and colorful hue. Pristine, unbroken specimens intermixed with crushed remnants of what had been. All were waiting for the morning waves to lap over them in nature’s caressing but never-ending…

Holiday seasons are times of great joy. They are also often times of peak grieving as we are shaken by memories of those who have gone on ahead of us. We notice the empty chair at the table. We miss the laughter and caring that the one we love provided. We are thankful for what…

Seen together, faith, politics, and family are like circles that resonate with harmony in a “sweet spot” of healthy relationships. It is said that the strength of our relationship with people of a common faith should be greater than that of our relationship with people of common politics. And both should be tempered with a…

Self-honesty is important. In his book, Better Decisions – Fewer Regrets, Andy Stanley offers five questions to ask ourselves when we encounter a situation that doesn’t quite feel right. The first of these has to do with self-honesty, i.e. “Am I being honest with myself, really?” Stanley emphasizes that “The easiest person to deceive is…