Have you ever asked God to give you a "word" for the year? I hadn't until I started meeting with a group of writers several years ago (I'm waving to you, Robin!) and a few of them had done it. Ever since, we've prayed together asking the Lord to show us something specific he wants each of us to focus on for the year. I'll be the first to admit that some years February has rolled around and I … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Keep from Becoming a “Bah Humbug”
Recently I read the book Night by Elie Wiesel. In it he recounts his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945. I find it amazing that anyone at all could survive the brutality that the Jews experienced during the holocaust. I couldn't keep from wondering how Elie lasted two years in spite of beatings, starvation, freezing cattle … [Read more...]
Reflecting God’s Character in Creativity
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” -- Revelation 4:11 (NASB95) About a decade ago, I participated in a theology study with a group of novelists. We used Wayne Grudem's Bible Doctrine. The quote below is from Grudem’s more comprehensive study, Systematic … [Read more...]
The Sacrifice of Time
In the ever popular Jesus Calling (by Sarah Young), it reads: BRING ME THE SACRIFICE of your time: a most precious commodity. In this action-addicted world, few of My children take time to sit quietly in My Presence. But for those who do, blessings flow like streams of living water. I, the One from whom all blessings flow, am also blessed by our time together. This is a deep mystery; do not try … [Read more...]
Don’t Look Behind … Follow Me
My church just finished a year-plus long study of the Gospel of John. Rich, rich stuff! I have a particular fondness for the final chapter of this book in the Bible (and have blogged about it more than once). It is a favorite for lots of reasons. But here are the verses I wanted to share with you today: Peter therefore seeing him [John, who was following Jesus and Peter] said to Jesus, "Lord, … [Read more...]