Helpless, Lenten Reflection #10

[Note: I wrote this for Easter Sunday, 2007. The week before, while preaching the sermon, I had suffered a massive attack of a kidney stone. It completely incapacitate me. I was in so much pain I was unable to finish the sermon and the rest of the week I merely laid around on the couch…

Jesus, the Psalms, the Cross, Lenten Reflection #8

I wish I could do this for a living–blogging or writing or spending all my time thinking about Scripture and helping others discover kernels of delight and morsels of joy. There's so much to take in on every page and it sincerely makes me happy to share it with others. My Psalm reading is still…

How Long?, Lenten Reflection #7

Here I am in the midst of the Lenten season. I have been reading my Bible, trying to pray, avoiding social media, and really working hard to get myself into a routine that is conducive to good faith practice–that is, I've been working real hard to root our sin and draw closer to Jesus. It…

Take up Your Cross, Daily, Lenten Reflection #5

The third passage of Scripture I am zeroing in on during this Lenten season is found in Mark 8: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for…

Fixed Eye Faith, Lenten Reflections #2

Several years ago I became rather obsessed with the book in the New Testament we call 'Hebrews.' I don't remember the exact dates off the top of my head, I just remember catching a glimpse of it one day (I think I may have been reading N.T. Wright's book Following Jesus) and then diving in deeper…

Meditations on Hebrews, pt 3

I'm kind of stuck in Hebrews 2. I want to move on, but I keep going back to it over and over because I keep seeing something in it that captivates my attention. Today what caught my attention is not so much a 'what' as a 'who.' It's Jesus, of course. Today I noticed something…

Meditations on Hebrews, pt 2

I think this means that we need to constantly be evaluating what we hear. Too many Christians are content to take in everything they hear unfiltered.