A ministry in Carlsbad, New Mexico, supports their community by offering more than 24,000 pounds of free food each month to local residents. The leader of the ministry shared, “People can come here, and we will accept them and meet them right where they are. Our goal is . . . to meet their practicalContinue reading “Use It or Lose It”
Category Archives: Service
Nighttime Workers
It’s 3 a.m. at an acute-care hospital. A worried patient presses the call button for the fourth time in an hour. The night-shift nurse answers without complaint. Soon another patient is screaming, crying for attention. The nurse isn’t surprised. She requested the night shift five years ago to avoid her hospital’s daytime frenzy. Then theContinue reading “Nighttime Workers”
Beating Time
I have learned a few tricks to help me beat the clock. They may be helpful to you. I realize that all my time is God’s time and all my time is my time by His delegation. God owns me and my time. Yet, He has given me a measure of time over which IContinue reading “Beating Time”
Don’t Deny Your Gifts
Mary visits Elizabeth Luke 1:46-56 Mary responded, “Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God. For he, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me. His mercyContinue reading “Don’t Deny Your Gifts”
Reach Out
Before you begin your prayer time, pause for a few moments to quiet yourself. Take several deep breaths and call to mind that you are in the loving presence of God, who is with you as you continue this journey of faith. It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of theseContinue reading “Reach Out”
When We Have Only Words
Matthew’s Gospel speaks about integrity intwo ways. To begin with, there is the debate around authoritybetween Jesus and the religious leaders. This confrontationhappened just after Jesus had thrown the money changers andanimal sellers out of the Temple. The leaders wanted to knowwhether Jesus really had a valid right to do what he did, so theyquestionedContinue reading “When We Have Only Words”
Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable
Most of us who are reading this have access to technology that qualifies us as, at the very least, “middle class.” This can make talking about God’s passionate concern for the poor more than a little uncomfortable. Part of the problem is that we tend to frame the conversation in either/or terms. If God isContinue reading “Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable”
A Theology for Work
God created human beings to work. The first instruction God gave Adam was to work, to tend the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). Unfortunately, over the centuries, the term work has gained some negative connotations. We often view work as a difficult or unpleasant activity we are forced to perform. However, work is simply engagingContinue reading “A Theology for Work”
My Feet Hurt. 29 Years in Hospice.
So my feet hurt. Well, my foot and two-thirds. The podiatrist tells me that blood-starved nerves cause pain and that, given my prognosis, amputation doesn’t make sense. I have a prescription, and it’s helping. Still, my feet hurt. All the time. The pain sits just on the edge of real discomfort, which means that itContinue reading “My Feet Hurt. 29 Years in Hospice.”
You Don’t Have to Change the World
I’m 62 and have been a vocational pastor for 39 years. I serve in a smallish church of very diverse believers, and commit around 55 hours per week to active ministry. I’ve got my hands and head full, and don’t know that I can handle much more. So yesterday’s billboard wasn’t helpful. It urged collegeContinue reading “You Don’t Have to Change the World”
Intentional Faith 