I grew up believing that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. Church described the Holy Spirit in this way: a loving, respectful, well-mannered person who would never push me beyond my willingness and capacity. It painted a picture of a spiritual being concerned with my consent before He did anything. When I was a teenager […]
Live Dogs and Dead Lions
“Anyone who is among the living has hope – even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” Ecclesiastes 9:4 (NIV) This evocative image struck me a couple of weeks ago when I heard a sermon preached on this text. The illustration of a living dog standing next to a deceased lion is […]
No Longer Slaves
“I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.” © 2014 Jonathan Hesler, Joel Case, Brian Johnson. Bethel Music. I do not like spiders. At all. Spiders have the capacity to arrest my attention simply by entering the room. They are captivating, for all the wrong reasons. When I see a […]
I See You
As creatives, we often find ourselves working in secret. We write in secret, we compose in secret. We design in secret, we paint in secret. We dance and rehearse and practice in secret. If we are not careful, we come to believe that our art is secret. As creatives, many of us are introverts. This […]
God Whispers
At the recent Omega writer’s conference, Disney writer Alex Marestaing spoke to us about hearing the whispers of God. Alex told us the story of how he got hired by Disney: he sent them a letter, asking for a job. Just like that. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Disney contacted him a couple […]
River
This song showed up in a dream one morning. I was asleep at the time, minding my own business, when the words “Give us a river. . .” started singing in the dream. When I awoke, the music stayed with me. The full song was written a few minutes later. When I think of the […]
The quaint and the quirky
“A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.” – Willy Wonka This quote is, of course, taken from Roald Dahl’s immortal children’s tale, Charlie and the great glass elevator*. I re-read this story recently (yes, I still read childrens’ books) and the above phrase leapt out at me. Perhaps it is […]
Surviving Showers
There are a lot of celebrations designed to congratulate couples. There’s the engagement party, bridal shower, kitchen tea, hen’s night, buck’s night and of course the wedding. Dating couples get Valentine’s Day and married couples get the yearly wedding anniversary. Once kids come along, there’s a whole new plethora of celebrations to be enjoyed. Baby […]
Humility vs. Ego
Was Jesus egotistical? A friend and I were discussing this recently in the context of egotism in the church. It seems that when we speak our minds, particularly in a church or ministry context, we are often accused of being “egotistical”. I find this very interesting. Let us consider for a moment what it means […]
Surviving Singledom: A Testimony
I can hardly believe that I published Surviving Singledom one year ago. How well I remember undoing those boxes and smelling the fresh aroma of new pages wrapped in plastic. I could barely believe they were mine or that I had written every word printed on those pages. I was so excited to take a […]