Learning to love others the way Jesus loves us
Habakkuk 1:12-2:20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let the whole earth be silent in his presence. Habakkuk 2:20 The world has changed significantly since I first wrote through Habakkuk in 2020. You know what hasn't changed? The Lord God, Holy One (קָדוֹשׁ אֱלֹהִים יְהֹוָה), YaHWeH Elohim Kadosh (Habakkuk 1:12) never changes. In… Continue reading Revisiting Habakkuk, Part Two
I wrote a four-day reflection on the book of Habakkuk in January of 2020. I had just begun my second semester at UNLV. There were whispers of a strange new virus coming out of China, but no hint at how that news might unfold. Reports of anger, division, injustice, and violence dominated the nightly news.… Continue reading Revisiting Habakkuk
Confrontations and conversations during Jesus' last days Mark 11-12 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a… Continue reading Not just another Tuesday
God uses our brokenness for His glory Kintsugi, literally "joining with gold," is a centuries-old Japanese technique of fixing broken ceramics. When a piece of pottery breaks, the pieces are put together, not with invisible glue so no one sees the flaws, but rather with gold lacquer so that the fracture is obvious. These repaired… Continue reading Broken and Beloved
Political affiliation must be secondary to our affiliation with the people of God. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9-10). "For our boast… Continue reading Everything is Secondary, part 3
God has prepared us for this very thing-Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! It's cold here in the South today. Nothing like what my friends in the North and Midwest experience, but when the temperature is below freezing for most of a week, these California-born fingers struggle to move. I can't sit close… Continue reading Fear is not all-powerful
Third Sunday of Advent The King of Glory will return to reign over His garden Kingdom. In the beginning, God made a garden. Yahweh Elohim (יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים) caused every tree that is pleasant to look at and filled with healthy food to spring up out of the newly created earth. In the middle of the… Continue reading O ye Heights of Heav’n
An Advent devotion: Peace O that birth forever blessed, when a virgin, full of grace, by the Holy Ghost conceiving, bore the Savior of our race; and the Babe, the world’s Redeemer, first revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore! This is He whom heav'n-taught singers sang of old with one accord, whom the Scriptures… Continue reading O That birth Forever Blessed
War, Job, and the presence of God Along with much of the West, I was horrified by the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7. After being there more than 30 years ago, Israel captured my heart in a way few places can. The holiness of the place is unmistakable with so much of… Continue reading The Limits of Human Wisdom
Lamentations 3:25-28 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is… Continue reading 4’33
Defaulting to Grace 