Psalm 66 opens with exuberant praise to God. This hymn stands as one of many in the tradition of putting words to the thoughts and emotions of the author’s relationship to...

The other day, I found aphids on our dracaena. As I was washing its leaves and sprinkling them with some special chemical solution, I thought about how some species, some crops—and...

Our faith is not a miracle-providing force. Our faith is a declaration of our dependence on God. God requires our faith not for the sake of some supernatural performance but to...

As I write, the critical power infrastructure of my country has just endured the first enemy shelling of the fall season. The winter is coming, and the war of attrition is...

Writing to Timothy, Paul mentions the two-fold essence of ministry, reminding him of the gift he received and the responsibility accompanying it. Timothy is to develop a spark into a flame,...

I so love the passion in Paul’s letters: the honesty, the vulnerability, the anger at times, the longing. I am always intensely moved by reading the lines in which one seasoned...

Certain events described in the Bible were so disruptive to the inherent theology of the Jews that they questioned their whole faith foundation. The Messiah crucified was definitely one of those...

Death, destruction, violence, and suffering are not something constrained to the history books for us to read by the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate in hand, the wind howling...

The morning headline read “Widow Donates Millions!” As I read the article and learned of the woman who had donated a large sum of money to a nearby university, it was...

My maternal grandparents lived in a small town in Alabama. Everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everyone’s business. People were known or identified by their legal names as easily as they...