Now, I think that we have given Abraham and Sarah a bad rap for the issue of Ishmael. Let me explain. We know that Abraham was called of God at 75 years old. We aren’t sure exactly how long they took to go to Egypt and back, not to mention rescue Abraham’s nephew, Lot. After […]
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What’s the Gift of Faith? (Healing School 7)
Sometimes praying for a miracle seems like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. It can feel like a random shot in the dark, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be that way. I think we have to understand faith and what the Bible means when it talks about “the gift of faith.” I’ve […]
Me & Joseph (Healing School 6)
One day, maybe even tomorrow, I will be healed and intermittent chronic pain will be simply a memory. Similarly, after a while, Joseph was able to serve as second command of Egypt. It’s a happy ending to the story. But I guarantee it was not an easy one to live. How he chose faith every […]
You are Three + the Democracy of Healing (Healing School 4)
(Click here to read the introduction to the series Healing School.) For you to approach the subject of healing, you need to know what you are healing. What … are you? You see, you were not exactly an original. When God made you, he was redesigning after a pattern. The pattern was none other than […]
The Tension (Healing School 3)
I believe and will tell anyone that I am fully healed. Yet just an hour ago I was experiencing serious pain. Crazy talk? Let’s look into this. Smith Wigglesworth, a well-known healing minister from a century ago, would see remarkable miracles of God. I heard one story where he punched a man in the stomach, […]
7 Pets: A Story about Living with Intermittent Chronic Pain
Rev. John Watson famously wrote in the late 1800s: “Be pitiful [compassionate], for every man is fighting a hard battle.” This post is a little bit about my battle. First, I call this series Healing School, not Pain School, because the main thrust is not to describe the nature of my pain to you. Even […]
Healing School: Let the Journey Begin
Many of you know that over the past decade I’ve struggled with intermittent chronic pain in many different areas of my body. I’m writing about this not because my symptoms are gone. It’s because I’m currently in the healing school of Jesus, and I want to invite you into my journey.
Jesus: Don’t Judge? (pt. 2)
Okay, maybe judgment isn’t such a bad word after all. What, then, could Jesus mean by His words in Matthew 7:1? Well, first, who is Jesus talking to in Matthew 7:1? Check the context. Four verses later, He addresses his audience as, “You hypocrite.” Now, I will be the first to admit that I and […]
Jesus: Don’t Judge? (pt. 1)
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1). These oft-quoted words remain a favorite of Generation X and millennials, but what do they really mean? The term “judging” is used by my generation with an almost universally negative connotation. “Don’t judge.” “Only God can judge me.” “Don’t judge me if you don’t […]
Jesus: Go Watch Some Birds?
My apartment smells like sweet potato fries with adobo and curry seasoning. The kitchen is half cleaned and hot. I walk outside to the cul-de-sac that rounds our apartment community. It’s unseasonably cool for a fall Georgia day with a glassy grey sky behind brown, bare tree limbs. I look into the tree and see […]
Jesus Has a Brand?
It is interesting how powerful a symbol can be. There is one particular logo I have seen in many different languages (the one shown above is in Amharic, the most common language spoken in Ethiopia, where I went in 2012). The same is true for the other languages in which I have seen the classic white […]
Faith Journey, Continued (East Africa pt. 6)
“I’ve never seen hunger for the Word like this before,” I told Samuel, recalling our encounter with the warriors gathered under the thorny shade tree. Off the beaten path, off the grid, and quite off the map, this tribe were as eager and open as children to hear this “Good News,” and I believe that’s […]