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Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay Over the last few days, many Evangelical Christians have rejoiced in two landmark Supreme Court decisions. The most notable, of course, is the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. I plan to write my reflections on that decision soon, but I’m still sorting through my very mixed emotions about it and prefer to take a bit more time to think. However, the second decision, released on Monday July 27th is also significant, and I don’t need as much time to think about it, so I’ll comment on it first. Most readers will be …

Maundy Thursday. Good Friday. Easter Sunday.  What about Saturday? In our zeal to get from the crucifixion to the resurrection, we often skip a day.  I call it Dark Saturday. In some traditions, this is known as Holy Saturday, the time when Jesus supposedly went to Hades and liberated the souls of the Old Testament saints. I prefer to experience this day from the viewpoint of the disciples. Can you imagine how they felt on the day after the crucifixion of Jesus? The shock of Good Friday has now settled into a grim new reality. All their hopes and dreams …

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay I’ve heard some Christians say that they never question God. I’m glad the psalmists didn’t take that approach. Psalm 10 begins with the bold questions, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1 NIV) I’ve pondered those questions a lot, lately. Just this morning I awoke to the news that the Russians had fired a cluster bomb into a train station where people were evacuating. As of this writing there are at least 50 dead. Where are you, Lord? A few days ago, the …

I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s providence ever since my SCA*.  My daughter Charlene did CPR on me for at least 15 minutes before the Campbell Volunteer Fire Department arrived and took over. But as I reflect on her being there at 4 a.m. to save my life, I’m amazed at God’s providence Years ago, half-jokingly, I’d told both our kids that if they ever wanted to move out to our place, I’d give them some land. And although I was joking, I was also totally serious.  Several years ago, Charlene decided to take me up on my offer …

For the last month I’ve been wrestling with the question of how to pray about the situation in Ukraine. It’s easy to toss out generic prayers like, “Lord help the people displaced by the war,” and “Please send people to help.” And, of course, “God, please overrule this evil and bring good from it. Use your people to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” Those are all valid prayers, but in the face of the horror and brutality we are witnessing, they somehow felt hollow. I prayed that God would stop Russia. That he would bring Putin down. That …

It seems that in today’s political climate the price of serving on the Supreme Court of the United States is to allow yourself to be brutalized by senators seeking to garner sound bites and video clips for future campaign videos while simultaneously posturing for their Twitter followers.  I’m fully aware that this conduct is not limited to a single political party and that both Democrats and Republicans take turns doing the brutalizing, depending on the nominee’s perceived political leanings. But in the midst of the political theater someone’s words occasionally cross the line into greatness. Yesterday those words came from …

Some time ago, a writer (I can’t remember who or I’d credit them) did a series of posts with the clever titles, (# of words) about (topic). For example, “250 Words About Quantum Theory.” (Actually, I don’t remember any posts about quantum theory, but you get the idea.) The number of words varied with each post and was reflected in the title: “184 Words About Dog Training,” “97 Words About the Oscars,” “253 Words About Pizza,” and so on. (By now you’re probably wondering where this is going.) Well, ever since my heart attack and cardiac arrest I’ve found writing …

I wrote the following post on Jan 11, 2021–five days after the January 6th assault on the Capitol. Like many Americans, I had watched in disbelief as what was previously unthinkable happened. I wasn’t surprised. I believed that the potential for violence existed; however, I had no idea that it would involve an assault on the Capitol itself. As I reread this post, one sentence stood out: I don’t believe Mr. Trump is finished, nor are the extremists who follow him. When I wrote the post, I meant that I feared more violence was coming before Joe Biden’s inauguration. Thankfully, …

We’re less than two weeks away from the first anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. I thought it would be interesting to repost the articles I wrote during the fall of 2020 up through January of ’21 with some commentary reflecting on this past year and the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol. I’ve edited the original post for space, but the content is not affected. My reflections follow the original post. ORIGINAL POST: So, how did a nice evangelical boy who’s voted straight Republican since 1976 end up becoming an independent who will vote for Joe Biden (and …

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4, NIV) When I reflect on the events of 2021 in the United States, I confess I am perplexed. If you followed my blog in the months up to the presidential election of 2020, you’ll …

As a fiction writer, I deal in what if questions. That’s how I build my stories. I start with “What if…” then fill in the blank.  Facebook’s crash the other day had me thinking “What if….”  What if the crash were catastrophic and the data irretrievable?  Here’s the deal. Back in the olden days we stayed in touch by means of phone calls, letters, Christmas cards (remember those?), stuff like that.  When e-mail came along, we thought we were in heaven. Now we could write letters and have them delivered instantly. No need to wait for a sluggish postal service. Then came …

Well, I’ve decided to take a vacation from Facebook. (Or at least I’m going to give it my best shot!)  I might make it permanent. What brought about this change of mind? It was yesterday’s crash. Strange, but the longer the day went on without Facebook, the more I found myself hoping that it wouldn’t come back–at least for a while. And the longer Facebook was down, the more I hoped it wouldn’t come back up at all. I felt free. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I did bump over to Twitter to see what people were saying …

I grew up Episcopalian, so I’m used to prayer books. And although I love The Book of Common Prayer, my favorite prayer book is a curated collection of prayers titled The Valley of Vision. I read one prayer a day from this book, and the final lines of yesterday’s prayer made a deep impression on me: “May I speak each word as if my last word,and walk each step as my final one.If my life should end today,let this be my best day.” (The Valley of Vision, “Morning Dedication,” p. 221).   I’d read those words many times before, but …

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay Note to Self: Walk in love today.People all around you are hurting. They’re confused. They’re frightened. They’re angry. They’re frustrated. They’re in pain.When people are in pain, they lash out.You might disagree with them about everything.Walk in love.You might be tempted to respond to an online post with anger or sarcasm.Hold your tongue and walk in love anyway.You might be hurting too.Don’t pass your pain and anger on to others.Walk in love.Above all else, walk in love. Ephesians 5:1-2a “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love…” (NASB, 1995).

April 27th was the three-month anniversary of the heart attack that nearly killed me. Not that I plan to go out and have a party with cake and ice cream to celebrate, but it’s worth noting.  As I continue to reflect on things I’ve learned, I’ve come to what is not exactly an earth-shattering conclusion: Life is Short. You might be thinking, “Thank you for sharing that breaking news, Captain Obvious!” We all know that life is short. But going to bed one night and almost not waking up drives the point home in new and refreshing ways.  One is …

“So, did you see anything?” In other words, did I have a near-death experience (NDE)? That was probably the most frequent question I was asked after having a near-fatal heart attack and about fifty minutes of CPR. Indeed, that question was on my mind as well. And I did see something. Sort of. After I woke up in ICU, about a week after my cardiac event, I remembered seeing something white on a background of blue. It was fuzzy and there were no details to speak of. I puzzled over it until I was moved from ICU over to the …

So, when does this all end so we can get back to normal? That’s the question that’s been on many minds lately. The question has crossed my mind, too, but it’s usually followed by another, more unsettling, question.  What if we aren’t going to get back to “normal?” What if we are experiencing a sea change, a dramatic, irreversible transformation in society and the way life is lived? Personally, I think that’s what’s happening. Although some are still optimistic that the virus and COVID-19 will all magically go away this summer, a lot of people in the know believe otherwise. …

But I trust in you, Lord;   I say, “You are my God.”15 My times are in your hands;(Psalm 31:14-15a NIV) New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. When I was on prison ministry staff with First Baptist Dallas, I commuted from Greenville, Texas, into downtown Dallas–60 miles each way. Although this was from 2005-2008, the Dallas freeways were still a challenging drive. Let’s say the drive did wonders for my prayer life. I knew that in a fraction of a second, my life could end on Interstate 30. All …

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matt. 6:34, NIV). New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. When our daughter Michelle died, we received a lot of good advice on how to manage our grief. One comment we heard most frequently from people who had walked the road before us was, “Take it one day at a time.” That advice served us well. When you are facing a loss and the grief associated …

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)  New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. So, is the pandemic a sign that Christ is coming back soon? What follows is obviously just my opinion. You may disagree with me on this, but here’s what I think. Do I believe Jesus is coming back? Yes. Do I believe that all that’s going on with coronavirus is an indication that he’s about …

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:26). New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Okay, it’s time to be honest. Yes. I’m frightened. The current situation in the world and in the US, particularly the uncertainty of it all, are very distressing to me. It’s also confession time. You might not know this about me. Only a handful of people do. I’ve battled anxiety and depression most of my life.  In my …

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights (Habakkuk 3:17-19). New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights …