Going . . . Yet Not Knowing

There is a strange statement in Scripture that flashes like a bright neon sign. We see it when the author of the book of Hebrews speaks of Abraham pulling up his lifelong roots from his hometown, Ur, and leaving for—let’s see, where was he going? Abraham didn’t know! There he was, about seventy-five years old, […]

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Why We Praise One We Can’t Comprehend

The culture in which we live, work, and play complains that God makes no sense, so how can He be trusted? They refuse to worship a God they can’t comprehend. My thought is the exact opposite. Unlike others, I find God’s incomprehensibility absolutely refreshing. Especially in a day like ours when executive moguls prance like […]

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Tenderness

When I was just a kid, I got a bellyache that wouldn’t go away. It hurt so bad I couldn’t stand up straight or sit down without increasing the pain. Finally, my folks hauled me over to a big house in Houston, Texas where a surgeon lived. He had turned the back section of his […]

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A Month for Love

It is February. Overcast, chilly, bleak-and-barren February. If you’re not into skiing the slopes, skating on ice, or singin’ in the rain, there’s not a lot outside to excite you. Sure was gracious of God to make it last only twenty-eight days . . . well, sometimes twenty-nine. No wonder bears hibernate at this time […]

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Whatever Happened to Fidelity?

I have occasionally had the honour to minister to high-ranking military officials in Washington, D.C., and I am a better man because of it. Better way to say this? These leaders are models of strong Christian commitment, frequently putting their faith on the line. It does not win them points with their superiors, but they […]

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The Joy of Painful Growth

In our backyard in California, Cynthia and I had a couple of fruit trees that supplied our table with luscious, homegrown grapefruits and oranges. Some years, the trees bore more fruit than others. And every year, the growth of those trees reminded me about what it means to become more like Christ. The secret to […]

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The Final Priority

Somebody copied the following paraphrase from a well-worn carbon in the billfold of a thirty-year veteran missionary. With her husband, she was on her way to another tour of duty at Khartoum, Sudan. No one seems to know who authored it, but whoever it was captured the essence of the greatest essay on love ever […]

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Songless Saints

I was on a scriptural safari. Prowling through the Ephesian letter, I was tracking an elusive, totally unrelated verse when God’s sharp sword flashed, suddenly slicing me to the core. . . . speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians […]

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