Years ago my friend John had a life-changing encounter with the book of Habakkuk, an experience he recalls with deep gratitude to this day. At a point in his life when he was full of confusion and distress, in one great insight he moved from doubting God to praising Him.
My house overlooks the beautiful Muskoka River. Since moving here three years ago, I’ve made a practice in my morning quiet time of gazing out the window (or in good weather, sitting outside) to enjoy the beauties of nature, and waiting for—and expecting—something unusual to strike my attention.
My childhood friend, Dave Raymond, died at 67, having spent his last decade struggling with a rare neurological disorder called Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), which gradually destroys a person’s ability to understand language. When Dave finally lost all ability to communicate either with spoken or written words, he became a prisoner in his own body.
One of my favorite writers, Frederick Buechner, turned 95 on July 11. If you don’t know his writing, you’re missing one of the great Christian minds, hearts, and pens of our time.
Reading the Song of Songs lately, I began to ponder why, in this short book, one verse is repeated three times.
I once counseled a young man whose problem was that he felt distant from God. We talked about many things in his life, and one of those things was sex.
To a friend who wrote to me asking for advice about insomnia, I sent the following reply:
In the First Sanctuary, or Holy Place, of the Old Testament Temple there were three pieces of furniture: the Altar of Incense, the Menorah, and the Table of Showbread.
My last post explored the subject of betrayal, and this time I offer some thoughts on how to deal with this greatest (I believe) of all pains.
Here in the middle of Lent, as we journey towards Good Friday, I present a two-part series on the subject of betrayal.