Dear family, Most of you, if not all of you, probably have sources of information that you trust regarding what the World Health Organization is now defining as the coronavirus pandemic. A pandemic does not mean that millions are dying across the planet. It means that a specific disease has crossed regional borders and is present...
This Spiritual Reflections column is scheduled for publishing in the Cook County News Herald on Saturday March 14, 2020. The gospel of Mark, filled as it is with eyewitness accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, offers one very specific purpose: to provide essential supportive evidence—proof, if you will--that Jesus is the Christ,...
This post first appeared in the Cook County News-Herald Spiritual Reflections column, 3-7-2020. Metanoia. It’s an ancient Greek word with a contemporary impact. Metanoia is the noun. Metanoeo is the verb. Metanoia means “repentance” in English. We translate the verb with the word “repent.” The word means to have a change of self (heart and mind)...
Cook County News-Herald Spiritual Reflections for April 20, 2019 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he...
This post was first published in the Cook County News-Herald April 6, 2019 as the Spiritual Reflections column. Nashville has become the new Chicago. Each time we drive from Grand Marais to my father-in-law’s home in northern Alabama, near Huntsville, my wife has two consistent requests. The first is that we stop in Bloomington, IL for...
This column first appeared in the Cook County News-Herald Saturday April 13, 2019. Millions of Christians around the world will observe Palm Sunday on April 14, 2019. Children will march into sanctuaries waving palm branches, some real, some paper, some plastic. They will sing as they proceed. In some places the donkey that carried “Mary” in...
I think, were we better students of church history, that we would be amazed at how often past history blooms in present experience. I was reading an article this morning that summarizes the Canons of Dort. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the international conclave called by the Dutch Reformed church in November 1618...
4:30 AM, Monday December 31, 2018. I awaken to a small electric hum that takes me a few seconds to identify. It is the battery backup on the recliner Linda sleeps in now because of her vertigo. Normally the backup makes no sound other than an occasional beep or squeak as some internal process plays...
This is the column I wrote for the local paper that apparently exceeded space available and got edited in an unfortunate spot (the last four paragraphs were excised): The American holiday we call Memorial Day, observed since 1971 as a federal holiday on the last Monday in May, began in the late 1860's as a recognition...
Jesus said, “Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured out to you” (Mark 4:24). He is responding to His disciples question regarding His use of parables. What He means, I think, is this: When it comes to God’s truth, and the resulting blessings of understanding and application, you’ll...
