Category: Knowing the King: Learning the Ways of God

Gift exchange

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

This Christmas, how will you be involved in the giving and getting of gifts? From ancient times, gift-giving has been associated with many holidays at the turn of the year, and the wise men who visited Jesus at his birth were leaders for us in the practice.

For the most part, gift-giving is a happy and joyful experience. But, have you ever had a less-than-joyful experience with gifts?

Continue reading “Gift exchange” →

True ways

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, . . .  put off your old self. . . . and be renewed in the spirit of your minds . . . “Ephesians 4:17-24

When I was a young student, every class day would begin with our reciting the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance. We said it every day, and then we’d sing a patriotic hymn of our teacher’s choosing.

The words we spoke or sung fell easily from our lips, because we had said or sung them over and over again . . . for years.

We were learning what it meant to be an American.

But it wasn’t always that way. Continue reading “True ways” →

Driftwood

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  Hebrews 2:1

When I was a young boy, my dad took me fishing on the lake near our home. Gathering all of our tackle and poles, we boarded a small boat one Saturday afternoon,  pushed off from the wooden, creaking dock and rowed toward a series of small inlets near the western shore on the opposite side. (It was a 30-minute trip when the wind was with us.) In the gray/green of hidden, shadowed coves, “the big ones” lay gently moving in the cool stillness of the deep.

That was our goal. We knew where to go. We knew the way to get there, but there was just one challenge, a familiar challenge:  Continue reading “Driftwood” →

Known

 

And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. . . Numbers 1:4-5

I like to know what’s going on in my life. . . what the days mean, how events fit together, where I am going next, what will happen there. It helps my peace of mind to look across the hours and know their content. I like to think that when I am in charge of time, then I can make good things happen and keep the bad things out.

How about you? Continue reading “Known” →

Great expectations

“Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division among them.” John 9:16

Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem, and as they walk in the streets, they stop near a man who has never been able to see. It is the Sabbath. Lots of questions…Jesus spits in the dirt and smears mud on the man’s eyes . . . tells him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. The blind man does so, and he receives the gift of eyesight.

This story is steeped in disbelief, doubt and misunderstanding, and the people in it are riddled with it. They are confused and doubtful, and their actions betray the disorienting fear that episodes like this can create. Their expectations of how life “ought to be” challenge their acceptance of real life before them.

But really, among the people in this story, who are the ones who can’t see? Continue reading “Great expectations” →

A sign for you

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

When I was a young boy, Christmas was, in every sense of the word, magical. The sparkling snow (when we had it), the soul-lifting music, the pine-scented decorations, amazing food, the anticipation, laughter and love of my family were lights in the night getting us ready to hear again the deep message in God’s greatest announcement: Emanuel has come.

But this year, the whole story is brand new. This year among these familiar events, I found something new, and it has changed me. Continue reading “A sign for you” →

Thanksgiving recipe

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:17-19

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in my house, as it is in most others across the land. I love this holiday as we celebrate our nation’s earliest days. I love to think about the brave and grateful pilgrims. I love the Thanksgiving memories of my youth, where my brothers and family would sometimes play football in the snow after eating like kings at noon. I love the family and friends with whom we can share the hours. I love this frosty time of year, with the brightening sun on the spectacularly colored leaves.

In all these things, I am so grateful.

And I love the food. Oh! The food! (See where this is going?) Continue reading “Thanksgiving recipe” →

Matters of life and death (Part one)

 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4

Every moment of every day, we are propelled by a silent urging.

Persistent in our minds is the unspoken, prime directive around which we orient our awareness. It is the a priori of our existence, the point of our central orientation, our singular focus.  Continue reading “Matters of life and death (Part one)” →