The bowl rested on a small table near the altar. Inside, coiled like little snakes, were white rubber bracelets imprinted with blue letters: WWJU The “U” threw me for a loop. It was supposed to end with a “D,” as in “What Would Jesus Do?” The question was the second...

The other day, in the wee hours of the morning, a spring storm blew in with the fury of a toddler whose favorite toy had been taken away. We woke up to an eerily dark and quiet house – and it remained that way for over 15 hours as crews worked...

My dad grew up in a Texas sharecropper’s shack during the Great Depression. He was barely a teenager when the “Grasshopper Wars” began. The winged insects darkened the sky like storm clouds, swooping down on crops and stripping them to stubble. Driving turned dangerous as the roads became slick with...

I did not give up anything for Lent this year. My only resolution was to get through a devotional book that’s been collecting dust on my shelf for a while. However, my wife and I inadvertently took up a Lenten discipline after our youngest son moved out a few weeks...

As we move through Lent, it’s a sure bet you’re going to be reminded to “deny yourself.” One of my sons told me that a Facebook friend feels she’s eating too many starchy carbs, so she’s giving up French fries. A lot of people view Lent as a kind of...

In seminary, I was a youth pastor. Every summer during this time, I served as a volunteer at high school church camp. Those were halcyon days spent in small groups, worshipping under the stars, eating junk food with no regret and climbing  “The Mountain,” a cedar-cloaked bluff topped with a...

As we trek through the metaphorical wilderness of Lent, I am reminded that Jesus spent time in a real wilderness. Mark 1:12-15 reports that after Jesus was baptized, “…immediately the Spirit impelled Him (Jesus) to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by...

  Music has always been a potent force. Trumpets tumbled the walls of Jericho and David’s harp soothed the vexed King Saul. Scripture encourages us to “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts” (Psalm 105:2). Music has lost none of its effectiveness since biblical times. Research has shown...

  Read Joel 2:1-2; 12-17  My dad grew up in a Texas sharecropper’s shack during the Great Depression. He was barely a teenager when the “Grasshopper Wars” began. The winged insects darkened the sky like storm clouds, swooping down on crops and stripping them to stubble. Driving turned dangerous as the...

  That curious season of Lent is upon us with its ashes and forty days and emphasis on self-denial. Where did it come from? What does it mean? Should we even care? Here are 9 interesting facts that you can add to your kettle of Lenten knowledge. 1. Yes, I Have...