Have you ever stood on an ocean beach and felt an electric charge as another world brushed against your skin? Or stood in a forest and felt the thinness of reality, knowing there was something so much more hovering just out of view? Have you ever walked down the street or through the mall at Christmas time, taken in the …
God’s Glory in a Seashell
Deep in the twilight realms of the ocean glides a mysterious, marvelous monstrosity. Up to 43 feet long (though lengths of up to 59 feet have been reported) with eyes the size of dinner plates, its bouquet of pulsing, writhing tentacles contains hundreds of suction cup suckers through which it tastes its prey. Its only known enemy is the sperm whale, …
The Boundless Mercy of God
Pope Francis once said that, “God forgives not with a decree but with a caress. … Jesus too goes beyond the law and forgives by caressing the wounds of our sins.”(1) That creates quite an image, doesn’t it? The perfect, holy God of the universe, creator of galaxies and gluons, sees the wounds you have inflicted on yourself, the pain …
Shadows and Stained Glass
For this holiday weekend I have something a little different for you. I hope you enjoy it, and that it sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading. May I present “Shadows and Stained Glass.” The moon wades into the restless ocean, Scattering captions of light across the cresting waves. Perhaps it tries to speak to him of brighter tomorrows, …
The Dizzying Love of God
Imagine. You are standing in a throne room that seems to stretch on for miles. The floor beneath you is made of something like glass, and below it, above you and before you rotates the spinning, glittering cartwheel of the universe. Lightning and thunder electrify the air. Rainbows arc and spark and gleam. Creatures nearly impossible to comprehend stand at …
Can We Savor the Bittersweet?
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 …
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 …
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 …