God
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Painting the Stars
“When I have a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion—then I go out and paint the stars.” —Vincent Van Gogh In a turbulent world, a turbulent man had it right. Before he painted, Vincent was a failed preacher who remembered that the heavens still declared the glory of God. In Alex Haley’s novel Roots,…
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Changing of the Guard
“I don’t need a successor, only willing hands to accept the torch for a new generation. I am just one of many thousands called to be an evangelist.” —Billy Graham Man of God, man of integrity, counselor to presidents, preacher to peasants, evangelist, prophet, servant of Jesus. He will be missed. Now it’s your turn.…
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For Those Who Mess Up (and Those Who Don’t)
“There’s nothing you can do wrong to make God love you less; there’s nothing you can do good to make God love you more.” —Horacio Spafford Some days I really need to know this. In fact, every day. Okay—every minute of every day. You get the idea. What a relief. —j
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Going Under for the Third Time
“He made us lamps for His light, not the salesmen or customers of His fire. He fits no category, exceeds every attribution, defies all description. He is immeasurably more than the object of our study—He’s the subject of the universe itself. “He’s the superlative of everything good you choose to call Him”, Rev. Lockwood proclaimed—…
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The Unimaginable Greatness of Christmas
Imagine eternity. Imagine infinity—imagine absolute life and infinite power, with no beginning, with no end. Imagine infinite size, infinite mind, absolute knowledge, absolute holiness in being and motive—perfection beyond anything anyone ever dreamt—absolute power to create and destroy at will, with perfect absence of malice and perfect omniscient Justice. Such power—such absolute personhood—holy and just,…
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Bottom Layer of Ice
“Only God has the love we need—yet we’ve turned away from him, except to demand convenient instructions and cooperative help. So we manage every relational encounter with self-need as our ultimate value. We talk about topics we can handle. We try to build our mate’s self-esteem so we can feel good about ourselves. We pout so friends will…
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Prayer on a President’s Desk
“O, God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” —An Old Breton Fishermen’s prayer, from a plaque on President John F. Kennedy’s desk God can seem dark and vast, stormy, dangerous and overwhelming—like the churning sea. But like the sea, He’s also encompassing—unpredictable at times—but His love and grace fill the deep,…
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Why is All This Happening?
“Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’ Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our…
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Dabbling with an Unsafe God
“…When the line pulls at your hand, when something breathes beside you in the darkness…it is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. ‘Look out!’ we cry, ‘it’s alive’. And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back—I would have done so myself if I could—and proceed…
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Why Wait?
Another of my favorite poems that speaks for itself. Oh, wait a minute… WAIT Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied. I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate, And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait”. “Wait? You say, wait!” my indignant reply. “Lord, I need…
Jay McCarl 