Pray it Forward For my first ten years as a parent, I struggled to pray for my children. Oh, I did pray for them but not regularly, not every day. This changed when someone gave me a list of twenty-three traits to pray for my children. The items included that they would fall in love […]
A curious phrase pops up in the book of Joel: holy fast. A Holy Fast A fast is going without something, such as food, to draw closer to God. By implication it should be a holy act, so why does the prophet Joel make a point of specifying a holy fast? I wonder if it […]
The Hornet’s Sting I thought my son had left for work, so he surprised me when he bopped into my office. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m all right, but…” He went on to say that hornets stung him as he opened his car door. He showed me the top of his head to prove the severity […]
Depending on your perspective, you may call the sacrament that Jesus started as Communion, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, or Holy Eucharist. Other labels include the Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrament of the Altar. In my experiences, the first three names are the most common. And the most common verb associated with them […]
The Post-Christian West Meets the Non-Western Church By Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)What does the future of the Christian church look like? The answer may surprise you. While Christianity is languishing in the United States and Western Europe, it’s growing in the rest of the world, especially the global south. In From Times Square […]
A West Michigan Word Weavers Anthology The Transformation Project: A West Michigan Word Weavers Anthology is a collection of memoirs, essays, and short stories published by West Michigan Word Weavers, highlighting the talent of many of the group’s members. A smart and satisfying compilation of memoirs, personal essays, and short stories, The Transformation Project is proudly published by […]
What Do You Expect When You Pray? When you make a bold prayer, what do you expect? Do you anticipate God will answer your request, or do you brace yourself for disappointment? More to the point, are you more surprised when your prayers are answered or surprised when they’re not? Some people pray with little […]
Ezekiel was a prophet at a time when the people had little to do with God. God told him what to say and do. Sometimes the Holy Spirit would physically move Ezekiel to show him things. In Ezekiel 18, God grabbed his prophet by the hair, lifted him up, and brought him to the outer […]
I don’t listen to music much anymore. I find it more distracting than helpful. But when I did listen, my preferences fell a bit out of mainstream. The band, One Bad Pig, proves my point. Let’s just say their music is an acquired taste. (They were an 80s, Christian, punk, screamo band—and I liked them!) […]
My Quest to Pray Throughout My Day I don’t think I’ll ever spend the majority of my day in God’s presence like Brother Lawrence or pray without ceasing like Paul. But I can learn to pray more often, so I seek to remain open to my surroundings, looking for reasons to pray. “God, I fear […]