The Purpose of God – Mathew 27:46, “Why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever played the game where you take a simple sentence and see how the meaning changes when you change the emphasis?  Start with, “Why did you eat that apple?”  Now read it as, “Why did you eat that apple?” or “Why did you eat that apple?” or “why did you eat that apple?” or even “why did you eat that apple?”  .

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their .

The comment caught me completely off-guard.  I was proudly showing a colleague my new truck; a sleek black Dodge Ram 2500 long bed with a V8 Hemi engine that my kids named Darth Vader.  Instead of the expected words of admiration, however, this friend just retorted, “You are really supporting terrorism with that thing.”  He said it with a smile, but I heard the seriousness in his tone. What took me back was not .

Several years ago I experienced a week of travel that can only be described as a descent into madness.  It’s a little long, but I thought you might enjoy my ‘travelogue’. I entitled it, ‘So, how was your week?’ If you would indulge me for a few moments I would like to tell you how my week went.  Let me start by saying that I have only three iron-clad rules of travel: 1 – never check .

My favorite story from Scripture about faithful asking and generous giving may surprise you. It comes from Luke, Chapter 19 beginning at the 28th verse. “And after Jesus had said this he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem.  As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives he sent two disciples saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you and as you enter it you will .

I heard a quote yesterday (Stewardship Summit in Portland) that an idol is, “something you go to for comfort instead of God.” Where do we seek our comfort, assurance and security?  We have a lot of idols in America.  Sports is an idol, but we immerse ourselves in sports to connect with a passion that we have lost in our work and marriages.  We have sex as an idol, but we are obsessed with .

In the late 1800’s a Montana fur trapper is running out of supplies during a particularly brutal Rocky Mountain winter.  Growing desperate, he realizes he must make his way down to the nearest town to buy food or he will not survive. He sets out through an early morning blizzard and trudges all day through waist-deep snow.  At dusk, he can just make out the lights of the town in the distance, but as .

My single New Year’s resolution is to put to death my desire for happiness.  I want to treat it for what it is – a counterfeit version of the real life God intends for me. Far too many of my decisions in 2012 were motivated by the pursuit of avenues that promised to make me ‘happy’. In retrospect I can conclude that they all ended with a shallow experience followed by a sense that .

After a particularly hard and frustrating day I will lay in bed and ask of God, “Is this really the kind of life you created me to live?”  Of course, I know the answer. I can go back through my day and hear the Spirit say quietly to me, “Remember that email that caused you so much anxiety?  I have told you to ‘be anxious for nothing’. Is there some part of ‘nothing’ you .

While studying in Scotland I was introduced to the theology and poetry of Studdert Kennedy. Kennedy was an Anglican priest and poet who served as a chaplain in World War I.  He witnessed some of the most gruesome horrors of war as he ministered in the trenches on the Western Front. He was commended for his bravery for running into ‘no man’s land’ to rescue wounded soldiers.  He wrestled with the overwhelming nature of human .