The calendar flips over, another year rises and fades, deepest of sorrows, highest of joys, loved ones lost and gained, births and deaths, dreams born, dreams deceased, the ups and downs, ins and outs, hopes and fears, opportunities and trials, life lived where shalom is shattered. The rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old, known and unknown, no matter who, no matter where, no matter when, no matter how, have been faced with inescapable limits of power, of... Read More

Sacrifice Everyone makes sacrifices— for physical beauty, for body health, for athletic victory, for career advancement, for relational unity, for sound investment, for a physical dwelling, for the hope of fame, for parental love, for spiritual growth, for environmental health, for political power, for a noble cause, for a dark addiction, for the cause of peace, for liberation from bondage, for making a point, for exposing an evil, for meeting a need, for offering... Read More

The gravity of the cruelty meted out against Jesus forces this question upon us: “Did God really have to go to this extent to fix the problem of sin?” Did God really have to control all the situations, locations, personalities, machinations, institutions, and governments of earth so that history would march toward the right time and place: the birth of Jesus? Did Jesus really have to subject himself to the full range of the darkness and temptation of this fallen world? ... Read More

Such mystery the eternal one enters time the Creator becomes a creature God becomes a man The Son of Man carried by one he created Such mystery the Law Giver submits to law’s commands The all-sufficient one a dependent child The King of Kings in a stable born Such mystery Lord of Lords greeted by shepherds not kings The one all should serve comes to serve The one without need now hungry and tired Such mystery the creator of Adam becomes the Second Adam The... Read More

The timeless one entered our time and space Word becomes flesh shows us glory The timeless one entered our time and place fulfilling promises meeting requirements The timeless one entered our time and place healing disease freeing captives The timeless one entered our time and place Second Adam resists where First Adam failed The timeless one entered our time and place proclaiming divinity speaking wisdom The timeless one entered our time and... Read More

There was only one Black Friday. It was not the day after Thanksgiving. It was not a day when self-oriented consumers bumped into, climbed over, pushed into, screamed at, and hated the other consumers who were in their way. No, all the action of the one Black Friday was on a hill of death outside the city where three souls hung on crosses —two criminals and the Messiah. Christ doing what he came to do and what the world was desperate for. That Friday the world went dark,... Read More

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Download This Video Transcript (this transcript has been lightly edited for readability) Well, when you are going through a moment like this, where your life seems out of control, and you really don't know what is going... Read More

When the bottom falls out when chaos becomes normal when justice gets twisted when innocents die when leaders fail when answers grow complicated when actions seem futile when grief overwhelms when the fog of confusion descends when loved ones ask, but I have no reply when I taste my tears when events sicken my stomach when I’d rather not see than see then I remember you then I run to your temple then I open my eyes to your majesty then I preach to myself of... Read More