“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is

When the 21 year old Zedekiah became king of Judah (subsequently reigning in Jerusalem for eleven years), he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before God or King Nebuchadnezzar. “He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to

The Bible refers to at least 50 different terms descriptive of the condition of our heart. Words such as broken and contrite, discerning, hardened, devoted, foolish, pure, wounded, and undivided. I will be looking at these terms throughout the summer and will invite you to consider them in light of

My dad was an imperfect father. I criticized him for years as a result. But then I became a pretty imperfect father myself; I now have a lot more grace for my dad-who-tried-his-best. In fact, most dads I know these days are laced with imperfections. They seem to eek out

In the biblical account of the fall in Genesis 3, the curse on the serpent included eating dust and experiencing enmity. Crawling on his belly, the serpent would forever be considered the worst of all livestock and wild animals. In other words, because of the serpent’s deceit of Adam and

This past weekend we joyfully graduated our 3rd Selah cohort as they completed their certificate program in spiritual direction. It was a glorious day in Mystic, Connecticut as we concluded our residency retreat on Enders Island, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, under the grand wisteria trellis, in worship and celebration. The

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, the day we remember the powerful arrival of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension. It came suddenly…a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came down from heaven and filled the whole house where the disciples were sitting. Tongues of fire came to rest on

This past weekend we celebrated the accomplishments of our wonderfully gifted masters and doctoral students who graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Next weekend our family will come alongside our daughter Rebekah as she collects her Bachelors degree in Business Administration and Communications from Gordon College…we are very proud parents! Commencement

The signs outside the ancient church in a central European city were clear: a red diagonal line through the image of a camera meant no photos were to be taken inside. Thankfully I wasn’t one of the rule breakers – those who did, however, had their cameras snatched away by

Over the weekend my wife and I went to a sprawling outdoor flea market with our friends. There were countless tables of “stuff” overflowing from cars, trucks, and trailers stocked with abundant inventory. We walked row by row past an endless supply of kitchen items, wall hangings, books, jewelry, tools,