Abraham Lincoln's Life Raft

Abraham Lincoln went into a severe period of grief in February 1862 when his 11-year-old son, Willie, died.

He found comfort in the words of Presbyterian ...

Broken Bottle Demonstrates Extravagance for God

Text: "'Leave her alone,' said Jesus. 'Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.'" (Mark 14:3–11). ...

Rejection Physically Hurts

Rejection hurts. According to a Reuters article, that "kicked-in-the-gut" feeling that you get when you're ignored at a party or not chosen ...

Intimacy with God Despite Our Imperfection

Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not ...

Michelangelo Redeems Broken Marble

In 1463, members of the City Council of Firenze (Florence) Italy decided they needed a monument to enhance their city. They commissioned a sculptor to ...

Cannot Choose Which Cross

God can never make me wine if I object to the fingers he uses to crush me. If God would only crush me with his own fingers, and say, “Now, my son, ...

Aroma of Grace

Musician Steven Curtis Chapman writes:

In brokenness, I have felt tangible expressions of God's grace…. I had stacked some rocks out at this little ...

Taming Our Sinful Nature

In an article about Asian men who train eagles for hunting, Stephen Kinzer writes:

The capture, taming, training, and keeping of eagles is highly ritualized. ...

Flawed but Fruitful

A house servant had two large pots. One hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. At the end of the ...

God Uses the Imperfect

I shall never forget in my student days at Emory--not my seminary days, but after I'd served a parish for a time and went back for an advanced degree--I ...