To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue “prepositional truth” by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook. Easter Day in France is celebrated as in no other part of… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There’s more than one way to sabotage a relationship with God. Jesus’ parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of an irresponsible kid who utterly deep-sixes his connection with his father. He arrogantly runs off with a huge chunk of the family’s net worth. Basically the young man… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it “as much an experience we live through as a film we watch on screen.” He was referring to Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s 1998 epic re-creation of the D-Day invasion of the Normandy coast and the costly days that followed. Spielberg was… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Dandelion season is once again upon us. There’s a lot to love about these ubiquitous “weeds,” which grow in abundance on every continent, including Antarctica. They’re beautiful. Their very name (from dent de lion, French for “lion’s tooth,” a description of their jagged green leaves), generates smiles. They can even be… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Each day this Lent we’re looking at major “turning points” in Christian history – moments or seasons in which the story of God’s people took an important and often unexpected turn. Luther’s Stand What’s the greatest courtroom scene in Hollywood history? Movie lovers have a truckload of memorable moments from… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Music historians call it Stevie Wonder’s “classic period.” Pop music fans simply call it miraculous. During a four-year span (1972-1976), the Motown singer/composer, who had just turned 21, churned out five albums of extraordinary, even explosive creativity. Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, and Songs in the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here On April Fool’s Day, 1975, a drunk awoke in a doorway on Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His shirt was splattered with his own vomit. A street person had stolen his shoes during the night. As best he could remember, he had been drunk every day for the previous 18… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Last fall I broke the rules at the airport. And I had to pay the price. Just as I was about to retrieve my carryon suitcase following its journey through the scanning machine, a polite man wearing the bright blue shirt of the Transportation Security Administration motioned me to stand back…. Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Pastors sometimes get surprising questions. In his book The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryan Smith recounts a story he heard from his friend, Pastor Jeff Gannon. A young woman called Gannon out of the blue and asked, “May I come to your church?” What a question. “Of course,” said Gannon, who was surprised she… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A few years ago John Gilbert died at the age of 25 at his home in Paradise, California. When he was five years old, John was diagnosed with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy. That meant that during the course of his few years, John had progressively lost more and more of the physical… Read more »
