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Our Shepherd
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most familiar and dearest passages of the Bible. It is a beautiful poem about God, the shepherd, and his people the sheep that speaks to the desires and fears of all humanity. As such, it is a lovely reminder that the LORD is a merciful and compassionate God. Furthermore, it reminds us that, like sheep, we depend on God’s care and provision for survival. (2)
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Do you have eyes to see?
I’m happy to have as my guest today Lacie Phillips…. More about her below: Recently, I heard a sermon that did what every good teaching can do: it made me think deeply. The text for the message was Mark 10, at the end of which we meet Bartimaeus—son of Timaeus—a blind beggar. As Jesus, his disciples, and a crowd are leaving Jericho, they cross paths with Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the road. When he hears that Jesus is near, Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd responds by scolding Bartimaeus and telling him to be quiet; but a second time he shouts out…
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Compassion Reflects Overflowing Joy in the Lord
One of the most amazing verses in the whole Bible is 2 Corinthians 8:2! Paul, writing to the Christians living in southern Greece, discusses the offering being collected by the Christians in northern Greece for those suffering terrible hardship in Jerusalem. “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” Oh, my, that is so radical! Extreme poverty giving generously? Those early Christians are an amazing example to all believers, including you and me, of the dynamic difference that God’s grace can make in the mindset of His people when it comes to provision. Gratefully receiving and generously giving comes from…
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The State of Refugee Resettlement in 2019
“This isn’t a school, it’s a family.” Those were the words of one of my Muslim refugee students at the end of our English classes one year. She hugged me warmly and when we said goodbye, I wasn’t saying farewell to a student, but to a friend. Not every refugee is as fortunate as my friend. Many are languishing in camps, waiting for a solution to their displacement. The refugee crisis has faded into the background in the West in the midst of Brexit, a U.S. government shutdown, a changing political landscape, and other localized crises. So you may believe one of these misconceptions about refugees: 1. Misconception: The world refugee…
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Mister Rogers and the Hunger for God
“You’ve made this day a special day by just your being you. There is no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” —Mister Rogers, to every person as we watched his show. With the news that a documentary about Fred Rogers (Public Television’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”) will be released this summer, and a movie about him starring Tom Hanks will be in production soon, there has been a good bit of buzz in social media recently. I keep coming across articles about him and links to videos that often move me to grateful tears for this amazing man. “Mister Rogers” had…
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I’ll Take Narnia’s Aslan over The Shack’s Papa Any Day: What William P. Young is Missing
This week The Shack is (still) #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller list and, after three weeks, still in the top five at the movie box office. With unforgettable images Young draws a picture of God’s compassion for a bruised reed of a man who has lost his little girl in a crime of unspeakable violence and murder. The God of all comfort prepares Mack's favorite food in the kitchen. Skips rocks across the lake with him. Wears old flannel shirts. Young’s story takes us inside Mack’s grief and shows how God’s tender, creative soul-care heals and restores. Throughout almost thirty years of rheumatoid arthritis, the wanderings…
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The Lord is My Shomer
The Hebrew word “shamar” (shaw-mar) means to guard, watch, keep, observe, beware. It has a large range of uses in the Old Covenant of the Bible derived from the primary significance of keeping watch or guarding. Is it distinctly the shepherd’s word – the shepherd keeps watch-guard over his sheep. Someone that shamars is a shomer. That is, the Lord is our shomer!
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Quiet Presence: Comfort Those Who Hurt
Yesterday two dear friends called with heartbreaking news—news that will change the course of their lives. And as a “word” person, I’m profoundly aware of how inadequate words are at such times. In fact, offering comfort can be as much about what we don’t say as what we do…. An obstetrician friend told me that during his first year of medical practice, he sat with a couple who lost a baby at twenty-three weeks. Feeling at a total loss for words, he sat in silence and wept with them. He felt surprised when they later thanked him profusely saying, “You said just the right words.” He wondered “What words? I…
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GOOD GRIEF: Seven Steps to Embracing Emotions- #4 Actions Defined
If actions speak louder than words then we had better learn to define them. Whether at home or in the classroom, hurting children who have not learned how to ask for help will resort to acting out or closing down. Their actions are a cry for help. Too many times we label them as an act of defiance. We never want to justify or condone misbehavior. However, if a child needs help and they don’t know how to ask for it we can correct their communication style best by first hearing their heart, dealing with their hurt and then in love and compassion explain to them the proper way to…
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Ways to Minister to a NICU Family
My sweet friend Kayla Grey has been dear to me since she met her husband-to-be at Probe Ministries’ Mind Games camp several years ago. It has been a joy to walk with this wise, smart, loving, godly young woman as she married and had her (first) two sons, the second of whom had a difficult delivery and spent nine hard, hard days in NICU. I loved this post on her blog Renown and Crowned so much I asked if I could share it here. The overwhelming nature of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can paralyze even the most organized families. Suddenly you are living a life you never planned,…
