A chill went up my spine when I got home from church on Sunday and heard about the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, just miles from where I live. I was stunned because the shooting was taking place at the very time I was preaching at Elmbrook Church on Psalm 46:9: […]
Violence, Scripture, and the Sikh Temple Read More »
(photo: Bewilderment at the scene of the shooting.) The tragic murders that took place in the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, just a few miles from where I live, raises the question, just who are the Sikhs, who constitute the fifth-largest organized religion in the world? One interesting thing: the word “sikh” means “learner.” Same
In the past year many thousands of people have been captivated by the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as told in the new biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. He stood up to the power of Hitler, he spoke prophetically to the church of his day, he focussed on Christ. We have put together
Stories of Influence: The Power of Truth Read More »
All of us wrestle with the expectations that other people have of us. The only expectations that matter, ultimately, are God’s expectations. If we live up to those, with God’s help, we will be fulfilling the reasonable expectations others have. The prophet Micah said, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what
What Does God Require of Us? Read More »
To be human is to believe, holding in your consciousness a whole galaxy of realities that include the visible and the invisible. Not to believe, or being unwilling to believe, or thinking that believing is far too much to ask, is to tear out the heart of who we were made to be. It is
Reason or Faith or…? Read More »
Here is one definition of faith: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is not a catalog of things we know because we accumulate knowledge of them through our eyes or ears or touch, but it is the knowledge of things that
Certain of What You Cannot See Read More »
When we think of the great leaders of the past, we may remember their accomplishments, but just as likely we remember some great idea–a seminal idea–which dominated their lives and drove them to accomplish the great thing. Seminal, from the Latin word for seed, means something so compelling that it has a profound influence on
Planting the Seminal Idea Read More »
When faith happened in my life it was like the irrepressible onset of dawn. I love watching the sunrise on the horizon of Lake Michigan, and it always reminds me of the dawning of the new life of faith. The black-painted sky gradually thins and stars lose their sparkle against the graying morning. On the
Over the years, I have been interested in lighthouses, probably because Door County, Wisconsin, where I grew up, has many lighthouses around its 200-mile shoreline. There are treacherous shoals around this peninsula, and in the days of wooden ships, hundreds were lost. A great, great uncle of mine lost his ship on one of the
Beacons of Salvation Read More »
Cross and tomb go together in the Christian gospel: both were occupied for a short span, both abandoned, both defeated. The apostle Paul, who knew what it was to suffer for choosing to be associated with Jesus, said, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in
[Excerpt from upcoming book, Spiritual Influence: The Hidden Power Behind Leadership] When we are honest we will admit to God and to the appropriate people in our lives when we have failed. There is just no reason to hold back—though almost every one of us does. (This is not to say that one’s failures are
Dealing with a Sense of Failure Read More »
The single sentence that came crackling through the radio signal from almost a quarter-million miles from Earth sounded simple, even routine. “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The three crew members of the Apollo 13 spacecraft circling the moon knew that something had gone terribly wrong with their spacecraft after hearing the sound of an explosion
Building Past Failure Read More »
[continued from last week’s e-newsletter, “The Most Wonderful Tomb” ] Any of us can choose whether to hope that we have enough gold in the tomb to make ourselves comfortable in the coffin, or whether we have the vivifying Spirit of Christ filling the decayed parts of our lives now, and carrying us along with the
Riches Beyond Riches Read More »
A while back a colleague put me on the spot in a group by asking me: “why don’t you tell the folks how it is that you stay optimistic even in the face of great difficulties.” I instantly felt unusually self-conscious. My first instinct was to say, “because the alternative is unthinkable.” But then I
Is It Naive to Be Optimistic? Read More »
Howard Carter and a few workmen made their way down an ancient 30-foot passageway cut into the rock in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. For over 3,000 years, no human had stepped down that corridor. At the end, Carter began cutting a hole in the door until he peered inside and saw “wonderful
The Most Wonderful Tomb Read More »