Twice a year I get away for a two-day personal pastoral retreat. I use the time for projects or planning, but always for prayer. The place I go to is wooded, with several hiking trails. These paths are ideal for reflection and prayer. A few of the trails are well worn by me. I […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Lesson at the LakeAdapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011) We can note another way God presents this contrast of sources of life. Most of us are familiar with the shepherd of the twenty-third […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Discovering the Fountain of Life: the gospel for the ages (5)Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011) A passage I often share with those whose bodies are failing and racked with infirmity carries this same perspective. “So we do not lose […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Discovering the Fountain of Life: the gospel for the ages (4)Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011) Pursuing the Fountain of Life Finding our pursuit of the fountain of youth a dead end, we now turn our attention to another fountain. […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Discovering the Fountain of Life: the gospel for the ages (3)Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011) Pursuing the Fountain of Youth Youth is a good thing, the picture of strength and vitality. Often, young people cannot imagine death. They believe […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Discovering the Fountain of Life: the gospel for the ages (2)Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011) Introduction There is something special about the older generation. Before I entered the pastorate, I served as a hospital chaplain. One of my greatest […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Discovering the Fountain of Life: the gospel for the ages (1)“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on FoundationsWhy do you think Jesus talks so much about sin and righteousness and judgment? Why can’t He be more like those soothing, encouraging, reassuring pep-talk preachers? Look at the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7, our Lord tells us we can recognize a tree by its fruits. A good tree will produce good […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on Kingdom Confidence(excerpt from Warfare Witness: Contending with Spiritual Opposition in Everyday Evangelism, Chapter 7, “The Weapon of Prayer”) Seeing how God acts in daily existence helps us to see the place of prayer. God works in two ways, immediately and mediately. When He acts immediately, God directly acts to do something. For example, when Jesus […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on The Weapon of PrayerI am a big proponent of praying specifically. As a pastor praying for the sheep Christ has entrusted to me, I don’t just pray, “Lord, bless everybody.” No, in the model of the Good Shepherd who knows His Sheep, I pray in keeping with my knowledge of them—their joys, their sorrows, their needs, their […]
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