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A Time to Pray

My heart is broken for our nation. Having refused to love the Lord, we now find the ability to love one another slipping through our fingers. Why are we surprised that we cannot obey the second greatest commandment when we have failed to heed the first? If what is divided is to be brought together and made new, we must be dependent upon the Great Physician who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

I don’t have simple solutions, profound answers, or innovative plans that would make everything right. Even if I did, they would be a brittle, fading, and insufficient response to the present need. To trust in any person – a friend, a teacher, a leader, or myself – is both dangerous and disappointing. It is better to fall helpless and broken, in need of wisdom and grace, at the feet of an all-sufficient, ever-present, and enduringly trustworthy God. Continue Reading

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Saturated by Gratitude

“Let our love of God go into the minutest details. Let us be earnest in all essentials but never indifferent to the non-essentials. God’s lovingkindness goes into detail, and so should my obedience. May gratitude to God permeate my entire life; may it flood all my faculties, and may it saturate me through and through.”

Spurgeon

When the Magnolia Blooms (For Those Who Wait)

Spring is a time of new life. The air is ornamented with bird songs, sweetened by the fragrance of trees blooming, and kissed with hints of warm breezes chasing away the deadness of winter.  All nature seems ready to explode with a whirling dance and a joyful noise announcing life abundant.

The subtle yet surprisingly swift changes outside echo the events of life as summer approaches. Spring means anticipation and change, tears and laughter mixed as endings and beginnings collide.

Oberlin is home to several tall, graceful magnolia trees, and their blooms always came just in time to usher the campus into a season of exams and papers, juries and competitions and performances. Seeing those large pink flowers assured me that the battle with cold and snow was past and that the perseverance of many months of hard work was about to reach its conclusion. Year after year, those magnolias told me I could breathe a little easier, while at the same time making my heart beat a little faster as I dreamed of the possibilities on the horizon. Continue Reading

Set Free

Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings;
Through His blood I now am saved.1

Satisfied.

What a beautiful and perfect covenant it is that satisfies the infinite righteousness and eternal love of the Lord of Hosts yet is mindful of me, to satisfy the searching of my soul. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). How glorious that we who are thirsty and desiring of the water of life may still take it freely. How cool and sweet and pure it is! It is beyond price and obtained without payment. In great mercy and grace the Lord has passed through my Samaria and has spoken such curious and good news – that I need not draw water from earth again. He has met me at my broken cistern and shepherded me to a fountain that never runs dry. And there I have found the Scripture to be true, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). Continue Reading

Thus Far the Lord Has Helped Me

“Thus far the Lord has helped me.”

As another year comes to a close, this truth still abides. It was true for the Israelites, delivered from the Philistines even while Samuel offered a lamb and cried out to God (1 Samuel 7). It will always hold true, since the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, who delivers me from my enemies, will intercede for me all of my days and reign forever as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Rock that will never be shaken.

The Lord has helped me – there is no better way to describe this year. Or any given day. Or, I pray, my life. I am a jar of clay in order that God’s surpassing power may be known. The One who created out of nothing can surely heal my brokenness, and each year brings me closer to the Day when I will be fully, deeply, eternally whole. My failures have shown me that His faithfulness endures forever, that even when I stumble I cannot fall headlong. My successes have been evidence that His grace toward me is abundantly more than all I could ask or think. Continue Reading

Into Darkness Shines Everlasting Light

Among my favorite things about the Christmas season are the lights – hung on trees, fastened on light posts, strung on banisters and rooftops and storefronts. There is a quiet elegance to tiny bulbs illuminating chilly evenings and grey, winter landscapes. Anticipation fills the stillness, and as I drive home a gentle comfort whispers that perhaps the darkness is not quite so deep as usual tonight.

Even such small lights can bring hope. But the joy they proclaim comes and goes so quickly – soon Christmas will be over, we will grow tired of the decorations, and the lights will be put back in boxes where they will dance themselves into preposterous knots and inconceivable tangles over the next eleven months. Continue Reading

Why I am Voting in the Presidential Election

N.B. Our nation is facing one of the most crucial elections in its history. What happens on November 8 will have consequences for years to come. I feel compelled to speak my mind about this, or rather write it, specifically regarding the way I believe Christians should respond to a presidential race where both major party candidates seem to be morally disqualified. Can we even vote in such an election? Can we not vote in such an election? I have taken inspiration for this post from many knowledgeable people and what they themselves have written. I owe them many thanks but could not possibly name them all. I pray that you would approach my opinions as just that – my opinions. I have done my best to humbly, prayerfully seek God’s will in this situation, to be like the men of Issachar “who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel [or America] ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Continue Reading

Jesus Understands

This summer, I studied the book of Mark and learned ever so much more than I could have hoped; the Lord is a good teacher! (That’s just how He works, isn’t it? He always exceeds expectations!) I learned about our mighty and loving God by looking at the way Jesus acted and the words He spoke, never once failing His Father or the people He came to redeem. He saw entire crowds with compassion, feeding them with both bread and truth, shepherding them in love. At the same time, He would go great distances just to find one of His lost and lowly sheep, whether a child, a tax collector, or a beggar. He had the power to perform miracles, yet those disciples who saw Him transfigured on the mountain also watched as He meekly laid down His life to save us while enduring the taunting of those who thought that He could not even save Himself. Continue Reading

Finding Rest

“As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.’”   Matt. 24:3-12 Continue Reading

A Well-Tuned Heart (About)

Jesus is sweeter than life. There is nothing and no one that is His equal. He is freedom, peace, truth, and the longing of our souls, and I’m learning that nothing really seems to matter compared to knowing Him. As Paul said, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:7-8a).

When we place our faith in Jesus, all our sin is washed away, our debt having been nailed to His cross and paid in full. The Lord in His grace and love promises that we are a new creation, reconciled at last to Him. He takes away our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh, one that is free to beat in sync with His, one that is transformed “to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). A miracle has taken place. Continue Reading