Twenty years ago I ran my first and only marathon. I have managed to mention it about 10,000 times. In order to run all 26 miles you have to stay hydrated. Even elite runners break their stride enough to slurp down a gel pack and pick up a sports drink. Around mile 14, I started […]
Tag Archives: christianity
In 1997, on a clear cloudless night not long after Lewis was born, I felt a pull to carry Lewis outside. Maybe I felt a bond so rich that being surrounded by walls and held in by a ceiling seemed wrong. I looked up at the starry sky. That same sky called out to Abraham […]
“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” In 1988, I stood on the steps of the only church I knew. A growing sense of dream-like disquiet rubbed the official teachings of my denomination against the loving community that held me […]
After my niece and nephew moved out, my youngest son spent the summer in my childhood home. A few days after Caleb moved back into the dorm, Connie drove to Lexington to see him. In Nashville, asleep on our couch, the phone woke me at 11pm. Connie blurted out, “It is raining in the house! […]
“Are you the Expected One, or should we look for another?” John the Baptist’s disciples came wondering if Jesus might bring a deeper rest, or if they should take their expectations elsewhere? The Christmas shopping season is filled with expectations and longings for connection, contentment and joy. We hope Santa leaves us a Lexus with […]
“The lands in longing call out your name; the tongues are diff’rent, the prayer the same. With humble spirits can we believe that God is bigger than we conceive? The will of heaven on this earth be done; the day is coming, oh, let it come. With willing spirits, Lord, let us dare to kneel […]
Three summers ago, we woke at 3:30am, packed up our camping gear and hiked out of the Grand Canyon. Following the park ranger’s advice, we left Phantom Ranch by 4am. in order to beat the projected 120 degree temperature. Down in a 7,000 foot canyon it is dark at 4am. Being able to see the […]
In retirement, my notoriously frugal parents went on vacation for many years with equally frugal friends. On their first morning in Florida, the condo’s clock radio began blaring AC-DC at 4:30am. Jarred awake, in unfamiliar terrain, Dad struggled for his glasses, detangled his c-pap and fumbled for the mute button. You should know, my Dad […]
Eight children and eight adults sat along Mount Leconte’s cliff-tops watching the sun receding over the Smokies. It was so spectacularly beautiful. The sun hung full, pale, orange, and low over the Smoky Mountains until meeting the horizon when it squished together and disappeared. A thousand fading streams of lilac and gold slowly turned to […]
There are twelve chapters of context before we get to the pinnacle of the Apostle Paul’s writing, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, worked in Corinth for at least 18 months planting the church that he writes to. The larger church did not save the Corinthians’ letters to Paul, but Paul’s letters […]
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