In caring for a house, I have made one surprising discovery: Houses are anything but still. They look still. They look stable and immovable. But it’s not true! There’s a reason why they call house care “upkeep,” because you have to keep the house up! It is always falling down in one way or another. Winds ruffle and rip its shingles. Rain rots its seals. Vines find its walls. Sunshine blisters its decks and trim. Bugs find its chinks. Foundations settle. Drywall cracks. Mice nibble its … [Read more...] about Our Rock
Bible
We Will Rise Physically
Because Christ is risen, we will rise physically. In every story with a jailbreak, there is one thing everyone is trying to get, one thing everyone is straining and reaching out for, one thing everyone is trying to slide off the hook, one thing everyone is trying to wrench from the guard’s belt: the keys. He who holds the keys has the power of freedom and life. In the Book of the Revelation of the Apostle John, the risen Jesus appears to John, and he tells him the most amazing thing. … [Read more...] about We Will Rise Physically
Our Carrier
I don’t know that we consider this image much when we think of God, but it comes up fairly frequently in the Bible, and it is easily one of my favorites: God is our carrier. We have already encountered this image in talking about God as our Father. Deuteronomy 1:32 says, “the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son.” In His role as our heavenly dad, God carries us. This motif is picked up in the shepherding imagery, too. When the prophet Isaiah describes God as a Shepherd, … [Read more...] about Our Carrier
Our Shepherd
In my life, I have once seen a shepherd personally. We were on a mission trip with a group of students, and it was a rainy day. We were traveling up and down windy roads in rural Portugal. Out in the downpour sat a shepherd. I think he had a rain jacket on. (I can’t remember if he had an umbrella.) But there he sat in the rain, watching his flock. That image has stuck with me. It was an insider look at true shepherding: muddy and cold, longsuffering attentiveness. It was not the idyllic … [Read more...] about Our Shepherd
Our Sheild
You may not realize it, but you use a shield nearly every day. We all do. It’s called a windshield. 😊 I know a windshield may not carry the same panache of a warrior’s shield, but it serves a similar function. A windshield protects us. It protects us by bearing the elements of the road. Sure, it really does shield us from wind and the occasional rain and maybe snow. But more significantly, it also shields us from the lethal smack of a rock kicked up from another vehicle. A … [Read more...] about Our Sheild
Our Father
This post begins a series of reflections on who God is for us. We begin with “Our Father.” God is our Father. And He is a good Father. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is retelling the story of God’s people, and he says that when they found themselves in the wilderness “the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son” (Deuteronomy 1:32). What a wonderful picture! Like a dad who scoops up his son and carries him on his hip or hoists him on his shoulders so the Lord carries … [Read more...] about Our Father