Sometimes there are no words. It is nearly 11:00 p.m. one night last week when I happen to encounter Joe (not his real name) at the care facility's empty snack bar, both of us restlessly trying to work away some pain by wheeling our wheelchairs about the place. (If you can't wheel your wheelchair, what in the world can you wheel?) Joe is in Stage 3 cancer at multiple locations. But that is not what troubles him most. His greatest grief arose nearly a dozen years ago, when a vehicle accident for which he blames himself claimed his young son's life. Joe's wife, a devout Christian who Joe … [Read more...]
EVANGELISM’S SUBJECT
A gracEmail subscriber asks if what people do today in the name of evangelism is the same thing the apostles and evangelists did in the first century. If not, what is different? * * * Two of the most glaring contrasts between the evangelism reported in Acts and much evangelism done today involve the message itself. The word "evangelism" comes from the Latin (evangel) and Greek (euanggelios) root words for "gospel" or good news. News, of course, is the report of a deed or event. The message in some evangelism today is not good news at all, but at best good … [Read more...]
HOPELESS AND WITHOUT GOD
You would never suspect it from his appearance--tall, pleasant smile, brushed back white hair--someone's "Grandpa Mike," you imagine (not his real name). Nothing he does betrays his secret either, as we work side by side in occupational therapy this morning, here at Rehab Hospital in Houston's western suburb of Katy. Suddenly Mike grimaces and a look of pain crosses his face. "It's so frustrating," he says. "Completely hopeless." He cannot hear, Mike tells me, but he reads lips some. He speaks but without context. He is too blind to read--but not too blind to see … [Read more...]
SEVEN BLESSINGS
Through the years, I have known many professional ministers who experienced sudden, involuntary occupational changes. On one occasion, instead of preaching and doing pastoral work, my friend found himself heralding the merits of a particular luxury motor-car company. Remembering a similar transition long ago in my own life and wishing to encourage my friend, I wrote him the following light-hearted note to which he responded favorably. Knowing that numerous other gracEmail subscribers are similarly situated, I decided to share my note more broadly. __________________ "What are some … [Read more...]
NURSERY THEOLOGY
For those privileged to be born in Christian homes, good theology begins in the nursery, where it is communicated--one suspects--most often in song. What better introduction to truth as a whole and in all its aspects than this: Jesus loves me. This I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak but He is strong. There we have it--“Truth” for all, Jews and Greeks. For the Jews it is faithful Relationship, love in all its orbs, reason to say “Amen,” For the Greeks it is sober Reality swaddled in propositions, freely knowable and told in the Bible. Then the … [Read more...]
TELLING THE BIG STORY
Christian theologians from all over are calling for a "big picture" story that takes the spotlight off us and shines it directly on God's enomous plan to redeem the whole world! In my book, THE DIVINE RESCUE, I tell what Max Lucado calls "'the sweetest of stories' -- God's relentless pursuit of his fallen people." With this book, says Max, "the drama is captured on paper." John Michael Talbot, the beloved Franciscan singer, calls THE DIVINE RESCUE "scholarly, heart-warming, and approachable for the average Christian." Meanwhile, author-poet Calvin Miller, whose books include THE SINGER and … [Read more...]
POWERS SEEN AND UNSEEN
As anyone could see, the power all belonged to Nicolae Ceausescu, ruthless dictator of communist Romania. The powerless man was Christian pastor and humanitarian activist Petru Dugulescu. His weapons were words--about truth and dignity and freedom. Words written in poems and essays. Words spoken in sermons and conversations. And, so you see, Petru Dugulescu endured years of persecution, including multiple assassination attempts, always under the hostile eye of Securitate, the Romanian secret police. Even in a world of secrets and shadows, these things were plain to see. But Petru Dugulescu … [Read more...]
TRIP TO PERU
TRIP TO PERU Edward Fudge Imagine three Californias and you visualize the size of Peru, where people already lived busy lives when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. The Incas were its best-known inhabitants, ruling and thriving from approximately 1,200 A.D. until the Spaniards slaughtered Tupac Amaru, the last Inca ruler, in 1572. This is the land of Machu Picchu ("ancient peak"), the lost city of the Incas, and Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake at 12,725 feet. Peru, like Roman Gaul, is divided into three parts. Along the Pacific lies the desert coast, where one also finds … [Read more...]
REFLECTIONS FROM THE COCKPIT
REFLECTIONS FROM THE COCKPIT Edward Fudge I pull the seatbelt snugly in place and adjust the earphones. Spread before me are 30 gauges and dials, 50 toggle switches and a dozen other electrical controls. I am sitting in the co-pilot's seat of a nine-passenger Mitsubishi twin-engine turbo-prop on a business trip. My only job is to keep my arms and legs out of the way while Earl, the pilot, takes care of the flying. I am impressed with his skills -- and am reminded of several spiritual truths as well. Looks can be deceiving, I quickly learn, as Earl avoids a tall and picturesque column … [Read more...]
FOLLOW ME (2)
There is a time to analyze, to study, to reflect. There is also a time to respond, to move, to act. Mark's Gospel is intended for the second occasion. It is 65-67 A.D. Nero is Emperor in Rome. He has just beheaded Paul and crucified Peter upside down. Now he is unleashing a wave of lethal persecution against Jesus' followers in the imperial capital. Some he ties to stakes, drenches in oil and burns as human torches. Others he dresses in animal skins and exposes to killer beasts. Others he crucifies. Jesus' followers remember the master's challenge: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him … [Read more...]