The friend standing next to me at the firing predictor was torn to pieces by the bomb that left me unscathed. That night I cried out to God for the first time: "My God, where are you?" And the question "Why am I not dead too?" has haunted me ever since. Why are you...
Many new friends have come into my life...Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, New Agers, and others—including lots of atheists and agnostics, too. One of the most dramatic of those friendships began in the aftermath of 9/11/2001. Like a lot of churches, our little...
Slow me down, Lord.Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with...
Look, the world loves us when we are good, better, best, but this is the time when you want to stop feeling guilty that you are not living your best life, now. We’re not always doing mountaintop yoga. I used to have my own delusion of living my own best life...
In every culture there are persons who fill the position of community elders. These are men and women whose wisdom, generosity of spirit, wide concern, and inclusive love equip them to care for people beyond their kith and kin. Their goal is not just the well-being of...
Over 50 years ago LBJ's Kerner Commission (1968) predicted that the US was quickly “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—-separate but unequal.” The most recent statistic I’ve found is that three-quarters of white Americans “don’t have a single nonwhite...
There we'll all be, gathered around the banquet table, not just the perfect people but also the other 99.9 percent of humanity. The prodigal son and his hard-partying buddies, the joyful father; the oldest son, and his responsible friends too, they're all there along...
Who can stay awake in this night of God? Who will not be as if paralyzed by it? Jesus' friends were protected from its terrors by a profound sleep. Luke, the doctor, and other witnesses speak of a "bloody sweat" which fell on the ground from the wakeful, imploring...
Maybe more than ever before in my lifetime, my friends and I are aware of our brokenness and the deep crazy, the desperation for light, hope, food, and medicine for the poor. What helps is that we are not all crazy and hopeless on the same day.
They said that if I questioned a 6,000-year-old earth, I would question whether other parts of Scripture should be read scientifically and historically. They were right. I did. They said that if I entertained the hope that those without access to the gospel might...