This morning God showed me something I didn't like. Sigh. A scene of tranquility. Of Resting. He showed me a view from my recliner in front of a window. Outside the window was a winter scene, of a snow covered landscape, deep in drifts. There was also a tree, beautifully iced with big clumps of snow. Bright sunlight, very Currier and Ives. There may have been a lake in the distance. My feet were up, and they were wrapped in a blanket. I was resting...

Monday, was memorable. So many blessings. Then came today. Tuesday. I told my customer on Sunday that I expected to be able to work a full day on Monday, but probably only had the physical capacity to work a half day Tuesday. And today, precisely at noon-- at the half day mark-- I crashed. I was eating fast food with my son, and suddenly lost all energy and burst into tears. The whole process, from Good to TOAST, took about 15 seconds. He had to drive me after that...

Last week, I blogged about The Committed Irishman, a man who had chosen to make the ultimate sacrifice-- his OWN ritualistic human sacrifice-- in 5th century Ireland. Some of you were appalled by my choice of topic, and wondered where I was going with this. Allow me to explain...

Then God showed me a different bowl. This was soup. Hands were tearing open a foil packet and emptying the contents into the bowl, but all I could see was green leafy slimy stuff floating on top. It looked like seaweed, or more likely spinach. I love raw spinach salad. But cooked spinach? Disgusting! God, what does this mean? Then a Bible verse came to mind: "Though I give you the bread of adversity and water of affliction..." What?!? I googled it, and found it is in Isaiah

"These bodies all owe their amazing state of preservation to the chemical properties of the peat, which has leatherized the skin but left it otherwise intact, so that we can see every physical detail-- even smile lines around the eyes-- just as we could have in life. All the bodies were sacrificed, and all the faces are at peace. In other words, all went willingly, one might almost say happily, to their sacrificial deaths-- like Isaac, trusting to the last the goodness of th

As I woke up this morning, I listened to the rain, checked the radar, and groaned to myself. I had so very much to do today and I could already tell that it's not going to happen. As I contemplated the cascading financial repercussions, God reminded me of a vision he gave me two nights ago. He had showed me a bunch of cooking pots, vases, and mason jars. It was a random collection of containers, as though someone had raided a flea market... They were all full.

For Peter, his future was set. The important future-- his eternal one. Oh, the present future? That was just details. He was fulfilling his mission to tell everyone he met about Jesus, and tomorrow he would tell the king and his advisors too. Right before they killed him. Cool. Later that night, an angel came, opened the prison doors, and walked Peter out to his freedom... And yet, I think the bigger story is that Peter was sleeping soundly under guard on the eve of his exe

That's where I am at this week. I Am TWO! Absolutely anything will cause a complete breakdown, with a professional hired-mourner level of wailing. Usually it is caused by a sudden onslaught of fatigue, but anything will do, really. I don't actually need a reason. On Wednesday, it was fear of falling in the morning at work, and fatigue in the afternoon at the bank lobby. There I was, bent at the waist, hanging on the teller's desk for dear life and crying my heart out...

As I think about the Dagon passage in I Samuel, I notice that Dagon's head and hands were broken off. The ability to reason, and the ability to work. Yesterday at my jobsite, I had two important tasks. Critical tasks. I had to calculate some quantity of materials to order, and I had to finish building a catwalk over the water so my customer could get to his boat lift and play with his boat. These two things absolutely had to get done yesterday, and I was the only one who co

I've been ruminating lately on blindness, darkness, and casseroles. Say What? Bear with me! The bible is full of examples of blindness,...

I am here at the hospital doing Round Two of four rounds of chemotherapy for Mantle Cell Lymphoma, and it is going well. I expect to be...

A close friend sent me this picture of a map and compass, and it calls up so many memories. I have always loved maps, and I enjoy...

I just started reading a book by Dr. David Jeremiah, entitled "When Your World Falls Apart: Seeing Past the Pain of the Present." Like...

I opened this morning to Isaiah 65:24: "Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear." There are so many...

Quick update. I am in the room at MUSC Charleston. I get my own room (Woo-hoo!) and it has a hospital bed, recliner, couch and bathroom...

I got the call today. Mantle-Cell Lymphoma confirmed. I will have a chemotherapy port installed in my chest Tuesday morning, and will...

May I tell you what God did for me this week? On Monday, the oncologist required a second bone marrow biopsy. I did my first one under...

This morning God showed me some things for my own life right now, which may be true for some of you as well, so I thought I would share a...

So lately, God has been using the imagery of a big white Jeep Gladiator with me regarding a different matter. This morning, I was asking God "Why a Jeep Gladiator, as opposed to a Ford? Is it the NAME Gladiator that is important?" "The-God-Who-Fights-For-Us"? "The-God-Who-Fights-Our-Battles"?

After this preacher departed another was invited to take his place in our pulpit, We saw a man who came with a message, but then stood by quietly and just waited. God was moving, and there was weeping around the auditorium, as was often the case in revivals back through history. Broken people, weeping in God's presence. He preached eventually, and God used him. But I think the biggest work of God in the service was before he even spoke. In the waiting. I suck at waiting, but