The difference between the words "irrupt" and "erupt" are subtle in sound and definition. The former is a breaking in--suddenly, even violently at times. The latter is to break out--to burst forth like the ash, soot, and rock of a volcanic explosion. When I think about the Spirit's activity at Pentecost (Acts 2), I think [...]
A Book Pile for the New Year
I've never been good at starting just one book and finishing it. In my younger years I saw it as a lack of discipline. Now I see it as merely a growing palette of interests (granted, I may have just become more artistic in my justification). As the New Year dawns, I thought I'd introduce [...]
Valley of Dry Bones
Ezekiel's vision opens with him walking among the ruins of a catastrophic event. You can almost feel the crackling bones beneath his feet as he's led by the Spirit to survey the desolation. The parched valley filled with dry and brittle bones strewn around him creates a picture of utter hopelessness and defeat. My imagination takes me [...]
The Worst Is My Being Alone
"They speak, this huge gathering of people who crowd the pages of the Bible. They listen. They emerge, if we in turn listen to them, not as allegorical embodiments of Goodness and Badness but as flesh-and-blood men and women who no less ambiguously than the rest of us are good one day, bad the next [...]
A Word to Our Sponsors
Dear Reader, If you'd ever heard me speak, you'd know that I'm prone to a distraction or two--to a flicker of thought that causes me to laugh inside or get angry or feel sad. Consequently, I sense this subtle pull to let the audience in on the conversation. Usually (but not always; I'm only human), I [...]