Our own will cannot align us with or be obedient to God’s will. Only God can do that. Our own will cannot bring us to the deep relationship of a child to Parent with God. Only God can do that. Our own will cannot discern our purpose, our created purpose. Only God can do that […]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” [Gal 5:22-3] Fruit is the product of a plant or tree at the end of a long season of growth from spring to summer or fall. And so it is with the fruit of the Spirit—it is the […]

The spiritual journey comes with many challenges and many joys. The first challenge is giving up my life to Christ and agreeing to let him lead me where he will. And then comes a long period of retraining/transformation of how I think, how I feel, how I think about myself, how I relate to other […]

It’s almost as if there is a sigh of relief, a relaxation, an excitement even, in the Christian community these days, because there is a widespread belief that the Second Coming of Christ is immanent. Things are so bad that he has to come! How could it be worse with the church under attack and […]

I was praying a month or so ago with my hands open, palms up—not my usual hand position– when this phrase came to mind, “Open-handed, open-hearted, open-minded.” I was going to add open-souled when I realized that the soul is the part of us that is always open to God. Then I found this passage […]

This week we continue the theme of what Jesus said about God. Thus far Jesus has described God as Gardener, Pruner, Sower, Father, Investor in us of his “capital” which is love and the One who treats everyone equally. Big shoes that only God can fill! And so we go to the last teachings of […]

I’ve been doing some research into the Gospels lately about what did Jesus actually say about God. And it’s been interesting to see what qualities he is promoting about God. This weeks’ post and next weeks’ share this common theme. First and foremost, he talks about God as the gardener and the pruner[John 15: 1-17]. […]

A child is born into an alien world. He has just come, that is, his soul has just come from Eden, from a state of oneness with God. And here, s/he finds him or herself in a body, in a world where God is not so present, so visible. And so the babe, as s/he […]

I am beginning to write a book about the Exodus story being our story, too. My thesis is that it is the template that God left us for how we get out of slavery to the world and into the kingdom of God. As I contemplate the passages in these five books of the Bible—Exodus, […]

“If God is your co-pilot change seats!” read the sign at Avondale Presbyterian Church in Charlotte for a week or more this February. This sign amused me because I have long thought of my life as an airplane with God as the pilot and me the co-pilot. There is a lot of back and forth […]