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”
Category Archives: Service
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”
I Will Not Offer the Lord That Which Cost Me Nothing
2 Samuel 24:24. But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” David sinned by numbering the fighting men of Israel. It was not wrong that the kind took a census ofContinue reading “I Will Not Offer the Lord That Which Cost Me Nothing”
This Truth Will Set You Free
God will always sanctify you before He sends you. The Father set aside the twelve disciples and made them holy by the Truth, His Son. As they related to Jesus, the Truth (John 14:6), the disciples were refined by that Truth and were prepared to be sent out to preach the gospel. Jesus challenged theirContinue reading “This Truth Will Set You Free”
This Isn’t Your Year
We made it. 2021. A brand new year with new possibilities after one of the most difficult years in living memory. But that doesn’t mean the challenges and lessons of 2020 get thrown by the wayside. Our problems didn’t vanish at midnight like a magical reset button. Even with the recent deployment of COVID-19 vaccinesContinue reading “This Isn’t Your Year”
Do Something This Christmas
SOMEBODY COPIED THIS piece from a well-worn carbon in the billfold of a thirty-year veteran missionary. She and her husband were on their way to another tour of duty in Sudan. No one seems to know who authored it, but it captures the essence of the greatest essay ever written on love. If I haveContinue reading “Do Something This Christmas”
Not Quite What You Thought Is It?
I mentally ticked down the clock until bedtime: nine hours to go. It was only 11 a.m. Already I was fighting ennui—not because I don’t love my children but because the day stretched ahead of me with the same activities I’d been doing for days before and would be doing for days afterward. I amContinue reading “Not Quite What You Thought Is It?”
Something to Keep You Warm
Some 25,000 winter coats are being gifted to children in Syria this Christmas. The effort is being led by Sister Annie Demerjian and the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, with support from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The thousands of coats have been made by tailors in Aleppo, northern Syria, which was devastatedContinue reading “Something to Keep You Warm”
Quitting with Grace
I remember my first job. As a 15 year old, I served as a referee for a youth soccer league that played on Saturday mornings. My first workday included tears and frustration—from myself, the players, and their parents. I was expecting a fun-filled Saturday, but a few missed calls turned it into a tormented beginning. What hadContinue reading “Quitting with Grace”
