What a Tree Can Teach Me The older I get, the more I understand why people have always looked to nature for lessons about living. A tree does not begin its life by reaching only toward the sky. Before it can stand tall, it must send roots deep into the earth beneath it. Those roots
Rooted in the Earth, Still Reaching for the Light Read More »
The Life We Live on Autopilot I have come to understand that much of what I do every day begins somewhere deeper than the conscious mind. I may believe I am making a fresh decision, when in truth an old belief could be making that decision for me. Habits do not always appear out of
When I Finally Looked at the Parts of Myself I Had Been Avoiding Read More »
The Foundation of Character I once heard it said that courage may be the most important of all the virtues because without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue consistently. The older I get, the more sense that makes to me. Anybody can be kind when kindness costs them nothing. Anybody can tell the truth
Courage Is What Holds the Other Virtues Together Read More »
When Life Seems to Line Up There are times in life when something happens so perfectly that I stop and wonder whether it was really just a coincidence. I may be thinking about somebody I have not spoken to in months, and suddenly the telephone rings with their name on the screen. I may be
When Coincidence Starts Feeling Like a Message Read More »
The Question That Made Me Look Deeper I have heard people say that the Bible did not simply appear in history exactly as we know it today. To understand it better, I need to look more closely at how it developed over time. That challenge is worth considering because the Bible is not one book
Who Decided What Became the Bible? Read More »
Wrestling With the Idea That We Are God I have heard people say, “You are God pretending to be human,” and that is the kind of statement that can either open somebody’s mind or shut the whole conversation down. Taken literally, it sounds like somebody is claiming that every human being is the Almighty, with
When I Began to Understand the God Within Read More »
When I Started Thinking Beyond the Blessing I have heard people talk about blessings all my life, especially growing up around folks who believed God had a hand in everything. We thanked God for food, family, jobs, homes, health, opportunities, and another morning to open our eyes. As I got older, though, I began thinking
The Blessing May Open the Door, but Grace Carries You Through Read More »
When God Keeps Saying Wait There have been seasons in my life when I felt ready for something, yet nothing seemed to move. I prayed for the opportunity, believed I was prepared, and wondered why the answer kept looking like “wait.” That waiting can wear on you because eventually you start wondering whether God heard
Sometimes the Waiting Is Preparing Us Read More »
The Name We Learned For most of my life, the name Jesus sounded so natural that I never had much reason to question where it came from. I heard it in church, read it in the Bible, heard it in prayers, and watched people call on that name when life got hard. But Jesus of
How Yeshua Became Jesus Read More »
A Question I Cannot Treat Lightly I have heard the argument that a religion teaching people to love their enemies must be dangerous because oppressed people sometimes need to resist those harming them. I understand why that argument can strike a nerve, especially when Christianity is placed beside the history of slavery. Black people have
When Faith, Slavery, and Freedom Collide Read More »