“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6) I was recently asked to nominate a friend of mine for a very prestigious award. I considered it an honor to have been asked to prepare a nomination letter and went into painstaking detail to make a strong argument for his selection. Frankly, I was surprised by my own research, and when I read the other letters of nomination that had been prepared on his behalf, […]

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son’.” (Luke 15:21) I know that God wrestled in the Bible, but it never hit me that God ran in the Bible, too. Why would an omnipotent, all-powerful God who created the universe ever run? The answer is found in Luke 15. The story, as it is told, chronicles the early adult life of a son, who after receiving his inheritance from his […]

“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” (Joshua 2:1) We often name our children after some of the heroes in the Bible: Joshua, Caleb, Ruth, Sarah. Yet we never hear of a child named Jezebel or Rahab for obvious reasons. Who in the world would name a child after a prostitute? Interestingly, Rahab was an Old Testament harlot who […]

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2) I remember when I first got saved, a friend of mine referred to me as a “Baby Christian”. I didn’t like that characterization and have become very careful about how I use labels, especially when I use one to describe a new Christian. They can be judgmental and damaging, neither of which […]