Meditation: What to Expect When You're Expecting New Life in Christ

In 1984 a young woman, expecting her first child, couldn’t find information on what a normal pregnancy looked and felt like, so she began to write her own handbook on pregnancy--while she was pregnant. Just hours before delivering her daughter, Emma, she sent off the book proposal for What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Nearly thirty years (and seventeen million books) later it's the standard for what is normal during pregnancy. Publisher’s weekly reports that 97% of women who buy a book on pregnancy buy this book.

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Why I wrote "The Impossible Mentor" and why I think it will change your life:

If publishing a blog is an act of vanity, writing and publishing a book is megalomania. I am guilty on both counts. Saturday saw the release of my spiritual-formation book, The Impossible Mentor: Finding Courage to Follow Jesus. I want to tell you why I wrote it, and why I’m foolish enough to think you need to read it.

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Give Thanks: Give Your Best ©

Matilda found a fancy dress in the dumpster and wore it to communion. The dress was torn along the zipper in the back, and had the odor of Chinese carry-out, which must have been somewhere nearby in the dumpster, but it was the only dress Matilda could afford. Out of gratitude to Jesus she wanted to look her best.

Everyone in our little church had watched the odd-looking Bag Lady who walked the streets undergo an amazing transformation from societal cast-away to daughter of the Most High. We needed to repent because Matilda was a non-person we saw everyday.

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Meditation: Don't Ditch the Benediction!

The nice thing about a closing prayer at church is it gives you time to gather up all your stuff and get a head start on the mad rush to the restaurant. The truly adventurous church-goer might even take advantage of all those closed-eyed people and bolt for the door when no one’s looking. Pity the poor benediction. It’s no more than a holy starters gun: ready set, amen, go!

But what if the benediction is filled with revelation and life? What if the Holy Spirit has inspired life-changing words available to anyone with ears to hear?

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Mutual Submission and the Eternal Feast

“I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” ~ Jesus of Nazareth.

What startling words from our Lord! Jesus invites us to receive from him what the rulers of this age have desired throughout history: divine sanction, feasting in the hall of greatness, and the authority to sit in judgment. For those attracted to power, here at last is ultimate power. For those attracted to influence, here at last is the opportunity to produce lasting change. As followers of Jesus we can attain what kings and queens have long sought: true power, complete authority, and a place of lasting honor.

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Hunger, Longing, and the Age to Come

If I am hungry, somewhere there must be bread.

That pang in our stomach, the ache that unsettles us and makes us irritable--and eventually weak--is evidence of a reality beyond ourselves. The stomach is made for food, and even in the absence of food we know its reality. Somewhere, there is food.

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