I can remember in my Junior Tennis days running what was surely my 50th suicide drill on the tennis court, and hearing my coach yelling those words across the court, "no pain, no gain." I didn't like the phrase then (or the suicide drills) and
Continue ReadingThis past Holy Week, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris celebrated its 850th Birthday. To commemorate this special occasion, the Cathedral was gifted with a new set of bells. On Palm Sunday the bridges and gardens around the Cathedral overflowed with people to hear the first
Continue ReadingWelcome to Holy Week! I wish I could say it's all pastel-hued easter eggs, bunny tails, and Cadbury eggs from here. But that's not reality. That's not how the story was written. That's not how our story is being written. Part of being human is
Continue Reading"We are all at times unconscious Prophets" -Charles Spurgeon No one can deny that we live in an imperfect world. You only have to turn on the six o'clock news to painfully see how many of us are hurting. So many starving hearts—for food, shelter, safety,
Continue ReadingToday, we are each standing at the entry of the labyrinth of Easter, a Lenten pilgrimage of twists and turns before we reach the center, Easter Sunday. There is a rich history of Christians embarking on pilgrimages to encounter God. In our own time, over
Continue ReadingOn this week of Valentine's Day cards, chocolate hearts, and red roses, stop for a minute and ask yourself honestly the question, "How well am I loving?" Every great story, whether penned in the eloquent words of a poet or lived inside the very breaths of a
Continue ReadingIt is hard not to be moved by the biblical passage from Genesis where God creates the first human being. We are told that God breathed his spirit, the very breath of life, into his first masterpiece of creation, man. To commemorate Adam's holy birthright,
Continue ReadingI found these words, I am starting to like my soul, scribbled in crayon on a sticky note and pinned to my refrigerator recently by a friend. Like a spark they have ignited a curiosity in me to ponder what it means to like one's
Continue ReadingIn the spirit of Hope for this New Year of 2013, I offer you a story I penned for a healing service at my church. Rediscovering it over the Christmas holidays, I realized that it was a poignant way for each one of us to
Continue ReadingGerard van Honthhorst, Adoration of the Shepherds, December 25, 1622 There is a beautiful story told every Christmas in the forests of Provence in southern France. It’s about four shepherds who journey to Bethlehem to see the baby Jésu. One brought eggs, another a baguette and fresh
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