On the last Sunday of January, I interrupted our current sermon series to talk about how suffering affects the church. This initiative came from our Lay Pastors as we identified the number of people in our congregation being directly affected by some very painful circumstances. We concluded that Eagle Heights is experiencing God’s […]
“God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.” — William Wilberforce
Last night, our family watched the movie Amazing Grace. Good show. I felt the storytellers failed, however, to communicate the duration of the struggle and the power of Wilberforce’s endurance.
I […]
Master, they say that when I seem
To be in speech with you,
Since you make no replies, it’s all a dream
–One talker aping two.
They are half right, but not as they
Imagine; rather, I
Seek in myself the things I meant to say,
And lo! The wells are dry.
Then, seeing me empty, you forsake
The Listener’s role, and through
My […]
Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.
We come to God (and to the revelation of God’s ways) […]
A while back — I suppose it’s been a few months now — the water dispenser in our refrigerator stopped working. I don’t know what the problem was. The appliance isn’t even a year old. But it really wasn’t urgent enough to squeeze out anything on my “to do” list. I […]
The Friesen family went camping this week. I’d like to conjure an image of “Man v. Wild” but alas, a little cabin must and mildew is as wild as it got. I can say with some satisfaction that we did complete the Nebraska camper triathlon — sunburn, mosquito bites and ticks!
We made a […]
2Kings 18-19 tells the story of Hezekiah’s stand-off with Rabshakeh, field commander of Assyria’s army. Three important contextual observations lead us to a spiritual lesson:
the crisis was preceded by Hezekiah’s idol bashing reforms
Rabshakeh’s psychological warfare referenced that reform and used it as a means of intimidation
Hezekiah saw the crisis […]