Author and theologian Russell Moore described noticing the eerie silence in the Russian orphanage where he adopted his boys Someone later explained that the babies had stopped crying because they learned that no one would respond to their cries When we face difficult times we too can feel that no one hears And worst of all we can feel that God Himself doesn rsquo t listen to our cries or see our tears But he does And that rsquo s why we need the language of petition and protest found in the psalms The psalmists petition for God rsquo s [... more]

Monica prayed feverishly for her son to return to God She wept over his wayward ways and even tracked him down in the various cities where he chose to live The situation seemed hopeless Then one day it happened her son had a radical encounter with God He became one of the greatest theologians of the church We know him as Augustine Bishop of Hippo ldquo How long Lord rdquo Habakkuk The prophet Habakkuk lamented God rsquo s inaction regarding the people in power who perverted justice v Think of the times we rsquo ve turned to God in desperation [... more]

One morning our younger kids decided to get up early and fix breakfast for themselves Tired from a grueling week my wife and I were trying to sleep until at least a m on that Saturday morning Suddenly I heard a loud crash I jumped out of bed and raced downstairs to find a shattered bowl oatmeal all over the floor and Jonas mdash our five-year-old mdash desperately trying to sweep more like smear the gooey mess off the floor My children were hungry but they chose not to ask for help Instead of reaching out in dependence they chose [... more]

In an upstart company operating on a movie-rental-by-mail system offered to sell their company for million to Blockbuster mdash the home movies and video game rentals king at that time Netflix had roughly subscribers while Blockbuster had millions and millions of them Blockbuster passed on the opportunity to purchase their little competitor The result Today Netflix has more than million subscribers and is worth nearly billion As for Blockbuster well it went bust None of us can predict the future nbsp We rsquo re tempted to believe that we rsquo re in control of our lives and that our plans [... more]

I surprised my wife with concert tickets to listen to a performer she rsquo d always wanted to see The gifted singer was accompanied by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the setting was the matchless venue at Red Rocks mdash an open-air amphitheater built between two three hundred-foot rock formations at more than feet above sea level The orchestra played a number of well-loved classical songs and folk tunes Their final number was a fresh treatment of the classic hymn ldquo Amazing Grace rdquo The beautiful harmonized arrangement took our breath away There rsquo s something beautiful about harmony mdash [... more]

In the mid- s two people participated in research on the effects of darkness on the human psyche They entered separate caves while researchers tracked their eating and sleeping habits One remained in total darkness for days the other days Each guessed how long they could remain in darkness and were off by months One took what he thought was a short nap only to discover he rsquo d slept for hours Darkness is disorienting The people of God found themselves in the darkness of impending exile They waited unsure of what would take place The prophet Isaiah used darkness [... more]

The Harvard Study of Adult Development is a decades-long project that rsquo s resulted in a greater understanding of the importance of healthy relationships The research began with a group of sophomores at Harvard University in the s and later expanded to among others Boston inner-city residents Researchers have conducted interviews with the participants and pored over their medical records every few years What they rsquo ve discovered is that close relationships are the biggest factor in predicting happiness and health It turns out that if we surround ourselves with the right people we rsquo ll likely experience a deeper [... more]

As I helped my son with his math homework it began apparent he was less then enthusiastic about doing multiple problems related to the same concept ldquo I rsquo ve got it Dad rdquo he insisted hoping I would let him out doing all the problems I then gently explained to him that a concept is just a concept until we learn how to work it out in practice At the end of Paul rsquo s letter to his friends in Philippi he wrote about practice ldquo Practice these things whatever you learned received heard or saw in us rdquo [... more]

In the summer of Monsieur Charles Blondin became the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope mdash something he would go on to do hundreds of times Once he did it with his manager Harry Colcord on his back Blondin gave Colcord these instructions ldquo Look up Harry you are no longer Colcord you are Blondin If I sway sway with me Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself If you do we will both go to our death rdquo Paul in essence said to the Galatian believers You can rsquo t walk the line of living [... more]

A few years ago a woodpecker began tapping on the siding of our home We thought the problem was only external Then one day my son and I climbed up a ladder into the attic only to have a bird fly past our startled faces The problem was worse than we rsquo d suspected it was inside our house When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem the crowd was hoping He would be the one to fix their external problem mdash their oppression by the Romans They went wild shouting ldquo Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes [... more]

The sun had long set when our electrical power suddenly went out I was at home with our two younger children and this was their first time experiencing a power outage After verifying that the utility company knew about the outage I located some candles and the kids and I huddled together in the kitchen around the flickering flames They seemed nervous and unsettled so we began to sing Soon the concerned looks on their faces were replaced with smiles Sometimes in our darkest moments we need a song nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Psalm was prayed [... more]

A few years ago my doctor gave me a stern talk about my health I took his words to heart and began going to the gym and adjusting my diet Over time both my cholesterol and my weight went down and my self-esteem went up But then something not so good happened I began noticing other people rsquo s dietary choices and judging them Isn rsquo t it funny that often when we find a scoring system that grades us well we use it to lift ourselves up and put others down It seems to be an innate human tendency [... more]

I ran into an old friend who told me what he rsquo d been up to but I confess it seemed too good to be true Within a few months of that conversation however his band was everywhere mdash from charting top singles on the radio to having a hit song pulsing under TV ads His rise to fame was meteoric We can be obsessed with significance and success mdash the big and the dramatic the quick and the meteoric But the parables of the mustard seed and yeast compare the way of the Kingdom God rsquo s reign on [... more]

ldquo What do you want to be when you grow up rdquo I was often asked that question as a child And the answers changed like the wind A doctor A firefighter A missionary A worship leader A physicist mdash or actually MacGyver nbsp a favorite TV character Now as a dad of four kids I think of how difficult that question must be for them There are times when I want to say ldquo I know what you rsquo ll be great at rdquo Parents can sometimes see more in their children than the children can see in themselves [... more]

The security guard found and removed a piece of tape that was keeping a door from clicking shut Later when he checked the door he found it had been taped again He called the police who arrived and arrested five burglars Working at the Watergate building in Washington D C the headquarters of a major political party in the US the young guard had just uncovered the biggest political scandal of his lifetime simply by taking his job seriously mdash and doing it well Nehemiah began rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem mdash a task he took very seriously Toward the [... more]

ldquo Dad why do you have to go to work rdquo The question from my young daughter was motivated by her desire to play with me I would have preferred to skip work and spend time with her but there was a growing list of things at work that required my attention The question nevertheless is a good one Why do we work Is it simply to provide for ourselves and for the people we love What about labor that rsquo s unpaid mdash why do we do that Genesis tells us that God placed the first human in the [... more]