Apprentice 2 Jesus

  • Be still

    The verse has always, in my mind, been focused on me. I realize I forget to read my own notes. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  (Ps. 46:10, NIV) Read more

  • The cultivated presence of God

    This trip back through Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton has been slower. I’ve picked it up to read just a few pages, then put it down for awhile as I pondered something or I went back to reading other material. This past week I was walking through a difficult spiritual battle and picked up… Read more

  • The aching remains

    There’s a statue of JesusOn a monastery knollIn the hills of KentuckyAll quiet and coldHe’s kneeling in the gardenAs silent as a stoneAll his friends are sleepingAnd He’s weeping all aloneAnd the man of all sorrowsHe never forgotWhat sorrow is carriedBy the hearts that he boughtSo when the questions dissolveInto the silence of GodThe aching… Read more

  • The unshakable kingdom

    We fear the apocalypse. We fear “decline” as Americans. We fear “losing our culture.” In general, we fear endings. Somehow we want to live in the dream of always upward in a world that always has the same result: all empires fade. Read more

  • Let us truly live like Jesus

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  • Repairing the world

    The God in whom we believe is the creator of the world, and he will one day put this world to rights… That solid belief is the bedrock of all Christian faith. God is not going to abolish the universe of space, time, and matter; he is going to renew it, to restore it, to… Read more

  • The call of discipleship

    There’s a war on. God is at work in our world; so are the forces of evil; and there really is no time or space for self-indulgent spiritualities that shirk the slightest personal cost, or even resist it on the grounds that all the desires and hopes one finds within one’s heart must be God-given… Read more

  • Heroes and saints

    Years ago I was pastoring a small church in the Twin Cities. One time the nicest lady began coming to our services and she jumped right in to help. She loved missions and learned we did, too. She had been praying for a specific missionary for years while attending another church and then learned we… Read more

  • Back to Egypt

    Our Old Testament text for Sunday will be Numbers 11. Numbers 11:1-6 remind me of the old Keith Green song, “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt.” So… enjoy. Read more

  • Facing the apocalypse

    Anxiety is up. Frustration is high. Anger boils over. AI will take over the world. “I, Robot” was right all along. Read more