It might come as a shock to you to learn that my wife loves chocolate. However, as we’ve gotten older, she and I have developed much more of a taste for dark rather than milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is, of course, much more bitter, especially when you first start eating it. But the health advantages to dark over milk are …
Where is God When We Suffer?
I want to make a very special announcement to you today. If you ever follow my Facebook page, you probably know what I’m going to say. But otherwise, this could potentially come as a complete surprise because I have done a terrible job of getting the news out. Either way, here it is. =) Now. Drum roll please. Starting today …
Rediscovering Christianity: The Movement
What is Christianity? What is it really? When you get right down into its heart, what do you find? In recent weeks I’ve heard a lot of people bickering over what Christianity really is. Some say it’s the church. Some say it has transcended the church. Some say it’s an antiquated, impossible belief system. Some say it’s the only true …
We Are All Left Behind
I heard recently that the world is about to end. I bet you did, too. Our culture today is obsessed with the end of the world. Whether religious or secular, we know all about being Left Behind™ or being the last humans standing surrounded by The Walking Dead™. Many Christians chant, “Come, Lord Jesus!” And when they say this, what …
The Gift of Life
Sometimes it’s good to spend a few hours remembering that life is a gift. This last Friday I joined my family at the wedding of my brother-in-law, a man of steadfast integrity and intense creativity, to his first and last girlfriend of four years. Then on Saturday I attended a birthday party for a one-year-old girl who, medically speaking, was …
The Storyteller
Why is it that suffering brings us together? When we meet someone for the first time and they say, “I’ve got cancer,” there’s an instant bond that forms. Especially if you’ve had cancer, too, or some other major health problem. But, even if you haven’t, there’s still that connection there. Why? It’s not just commonality, though that is definitely a …
Awash in the River
Does the greatest impact from the story of Adam and Eve come from that it happened, or that it does happen? Is it just a story, or is it our story? Not in some esoteric, genes-and-blood-and-destiny sense, but in the dense, concrete truth that we have all violated our world, our fellow men and women, and the very God to …
We Blaze Like Fireworks
The world around us seems so dark. Reason. Unreason. Right. Wrong. Up. Down. Does it even matter anymore? And what can we possibly do, in any case? How can we possibly make a difference? With so many voices making such a cacophony, our whisper is drowned in a sea of dissension. We feel fire burning in our chests. There are …
The Art of Human Being
Have you ever felt you are so far behind that you will never catch up? I have. In fact, I feel that way a lot. That I am losing more ground than I’m covering. That everything just slips farther and farther away, and I can’t move fast enough to catch the target. It’s confession time. I’m not just writing this …
The Seattle Journal 5
(This is part five of a series. You can read part one here, two here, three here, four here, and the book that started it here.) While I was in bed with mouth sores, Sarah was one floor up in the hospital’s little family room ministering to families. She met Matthew and learned about his sister. She met Barb, and …