I have noticed in my decades as a pastor that more people than not have a troubled relationship with God. Rather than experiencing God as love and loving, we experience God as judgmental and judging. This dramatically impacts how we live, whether we realize it or not. A couple quotes got me thinking about this. […]

So much of life is spent trying to gain acceptance from others - our parents, friends, colleagues, children, even strangers. We all want to be seen, known, and accepted, flaws and all. Too often, acceptance feels elusive. And so we try to achieve it. We fit ourselves into molds that will gain acceptance from one […]

When I mow the lawn, I think. Sometimes this is good. Sometimes it is boring. Sometimes I am fascinated by what my mind drifts toward. Today, this is what I pondered: Jesus often "broke the rules" in order to heal or love a person. For instance, He broke the Sabbath laws in order to heal […]

"If we know how great is the love of Jesus for us we will never be afraid to go to Him in all our poverty, all our weakness, all our spiritual wretchedness, and infirmity. Indeed, when we understand the true nature of his love for us, we will prefer to come to Him poor and […]

Whenever I feel like my life does not measure up (whatever that means), or that I need to somehow "do more" (whatever that means), I find myself leaning into this little poem, and feeling better: "And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To […]

I want to earn my way. I want to live in the world of achievement and merit. I prefer to prove myself worthy ... of God, of love, of my existence. There is another way, though. A way that differs from the world of merit like day differs from night. And I turn to Robert […]