Good evening, friend! One of my goals during this COVID-19 recess is to improve myself. Cyndi and I are taking online Portuguese lessons so that we can communicate with our beautiful new daughter-in-law, Deb. (Cyndi is more diligent than I; I am constantly playing catch-up!) But here’s one that I’m taking on all by myself: […]
Sleep on This: Crooked
Good evening, friend. I hope your soul is well! A dear pastor friend of mine suffers from terrible scoliosis, curvature of the spine. It was a problem all his life but finally reached a point where he was so bowed and pained by it, that he had to take radical steps. It required brutal surgery: […]
Sleep on This: Grumbling, part II
Good evening, friend! We are mulling a seven-word phrase in Philippians 2: 14: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing…” Remember, Paul wrote these words from a prison cell where he awaited his own execution. If anyone had earned the right to complain about his situation, it was Paul. And yet, his admonition to his […]
Sleep on This: Grumblers
Good evening friend! “Do all things without grumbling or disputing…” Philippians 2:14 I want to hover over this verse fragment for a couple of days. Because there are few things more thermostatic in a season such as this than the way we choose to speak. Like that dial on our wall with which we control […]
Sleep on This: Fear and trembling (April 28)
Good evening, friend! When I began to claw through my post-surgical haze, I realized that I was in the recovery room being cared for by a nurse. My most vivid memory was the shakes. I was shivering—uncontrollably. The tremors were so violent that it was actually frightening. I managed to ask what was happening to […]
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Sleep on This: God with scars on (April 27)
Good evening, friend! I have physical proof on my body of my past misadventures. My left shoulder bears the stitch marks where I fell on an upright surveyor’s stake, driving it into my shoulder. My right knee has three slight slits that mark the access points where the surgeon grafted a piece of my […]
Sleep on This: Hope as our anchor
Good evening, friend! As you’ve driven across the new Narrows Bridge, you could not have helped noticing the cable anchorage on the west side. This monstrous, MONSTROUS structure, a small part of which is visible above ground, secures the enormous suspension cables in place. Each of these monoliths consists of 22,000 cubic yards of concrete […]
Sleep on This: Hanging on hope (April 23)
Good evening, friend! I usually begin this evening note by asking, “How is your soul?” Tonight, I want to ask, “Are you hopeful?” I’ve been reflecting a lot on that word, “hope.” I didn’t realize just how prominent a theme it is in scripture. I know that I’ve never spent more time thinking about hope […]
Sleep on This: Hope – faith in the future tense (April 22)
Good evening, friend. Our Gig Harbor home of 28 years, the one in which we raised our children, was a split-level house. When you walked in the front door, there were five steps facing you that led up to a large, open area. One of my fondest memories of that place is coming home from […]
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Sleep on This: Biblical hope (April 21)
Good evening, friend! This week, we are basking in one of the great biblical ideas: hope! In 1 Corinthians 13:13, the Apostle Paul lists the supreme Triumvirate of Christian qualities: faith, hope, and love. Of course, “Love” ends up being the number one draft pick, but hope is right up there! And who couldn’t use […]