In my last post (How We Talk Should Be Different, June 22, 2020), I set out in general terms why it is important for the people of God to be apprenticed to the Word rather than to the world in our speech. With this second post, I get specific with five principles from the Proverbs.…
As the people of God Christ has called us to reflect God’s character in word and deed. The calling to ambassadors for our King is never more important in times of crisis and turmoil. In order to foster this kind of distinctly Christian community and witness, our interaction is to be characterized by biblical wisdom…
Many of us are finding it difficult to disciple our children during this painful time, and rightfully so. Some of us have talked with our children about topics around race their whole lives and others are doing so for the first time. Some have experienced racism firsthand and find it painful to introduce these realities…
For me, this is a fractured time. Plans for exciting international travel are dashed. Visits with family in other cities on hold. The serendipity of seeing friends and meeting new people at church postponed. And now grief over the recent tragedies and current unrest. Yet, I’m extremely blessed. I thank our Father for a loving…
I so long for normalcy, for life to go back to the way it was. And I’m thinking you do, too. But I’ve had to face the fact that normalcy is not possible right now, and that some aspects of life may not go back to the way things were before the coronavirus. For some…
Yesterday morning we awoke to the sad news of looting and destruction in downtown Raleigh. What began with a peaceful protest on Saturday afternoon turned senselessly violent after dark, and the unrest continues. We are grieved and overwhelmed. Our wounded city needs healing, and we know that as God’s people we must be part of…
During this pandemic, God brought back to my mind something that he used a stranger to teach me years ago. When I was in my forties with a full-time job and two children, my widowed mother was hospitalized with complications from breast cancer. She was scheduled to be released from the hospital to our home.…
A few weeks ago, Dr. Harold Coble, a retired professor at NC State, brought our daughter Sarah Kate about 20 tiny monarch caterpillars. He provided a cage and needed food, the milkweed plant. Monarchs begin as eggs before turning into caterpillars and then butterflies. In case you don’t know much about monarchs, they must have…
I would like to share a musical work by Handel that is not as well-known as his oratorio, Messiah, but arguably just as powerful and skillfully wrought. I’m referring to his Dettingen Te Deum, a musical setting of an early (3rd-4th c.) hymn of praise, similar to the Gloria text that we sing in church.…
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17 As this pandemic drags on, I’ve found myself drawn to unexpected places in my Bible reading. I’ve long loved…