Company in the Smog

In four decades of clothes shopping, I’ve never found a department store mirror I agree with. Perhaps that’s why the Bible sets so many people on edge. Mirror-like, with searing accuracy, it reflects the bits of ourselves we dislike most. When Truth and Light peel back the not-so-glad rags of unrighteousness, the image of our own buck-naked souls makes us recoil.

A Little Help From My Friends

“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends. . . ” Whatever other message conveyed by those popular Beatles lyrics, the writer understood that he desperately needed his friends to help him be what he felt he wanted and needed to be.

What Was I Thinking?

Lies, all of them will eventually “out.” Just ask Lance Armstrong. Or Abraham and Sarah.
Abraham and Sarah’s agreed that Sarah not reveal her marital status. Their deception, (like so many of ours) rose from an instinct of self-protection. But God had a higher plan, and that redemptive plan of the One who set the stars in place could not be thwarted—not even by the pair from whose line Jesus Christ would stem.

Messy Business

Imperfect people. Dysfunctional families. God chose strangely (or so we imagine) when selecting those who became the backbone of a people to call his own.

But it’s a messy business, building up a people of faith. Always has been, always will be. And when we assume that God operates on human time—and within human limitations, it’s also a slow business.

Faith lived, Peace shared

While working with the public in retail, ministry, and political arenas, I’ve noticed something that makes me cringe. Far too often, those who complain about something trivial, refuse to tip, or demonstrate uncharitable, disrespectful attitudes to others different from themselves are those who are vocal about their Christian faith.

Standing Beside Donkeys

In my role as a political staffer, I once helped with a private symphony concert and reception, held in honour of the visiting Prince Charles and his wife.

I checked invitations and ID, and after the music began, slipped into a seat at the back, behind a host of news media holding cameras and microphones aloft.

More Dear Than the Promise

Master class stuff happened on Mount Moriah—surely the most stringent of faith and friendship lessons. This is, after all, Faithbook, not Facebook.

Abraham plods to worship. See him . . . climbing, God’s promised heir close behind? Isaac, through whom redemption’s plan must flow?

On the Tide of Tears

My aging father and I climbed in his van and drove through town. He wanted to show me a narrow slice of land he’d recently bought, he told me. A hill or two later, we pulled over to the side of a gravel road, parked, and got out.

Servant

Faithful, hard-working, decisive, prayerful and nameless. Abraham’s servant inspires me.

I work full-time for a Member of Parliament. My job has taught me much about politics, but even more about what it means to serve and represent Jesus Christ.

Father Abraham Had Many Sons, Sir

Actually, Abraham had only two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. One arrived through human conniving, the other through God’s promise. Isaac. The youth who as good as died on an altar built of wood his father had laid on his back. The son whose life returned to him when God provided a ram instead (22:9-19).