BLOG––Encouraged by Faith

The Hope of Resurrection Sunday feels like a soft breeze on a warm day but comes in like a hurricane. One moment changes everything. Jesus goes from being a great teacher to being the Risen Messiah! Of course, he has been that all along, but Sunday proved it to be true. The prophecy of his own...

According to gospel accounts, Jesus dispatched his disciples to go to those who needed him––to the poor, the sick, the lonely––to anyone who would talk to them, not just to “the lost." The disciples took no provisions and no money. They were to rely on God to...

Throughout this past year anxiety and depression levels have shot up in our country. There seems to be something new to worry about each day from physical health and safety to the emotional weight of racial, political, and spiritual tensions. For many, the weight of the past year only added to...

Many words bring to mind an impression or an image, a connotation. That connotation may be wildly at odds with the plain definition of the word. “Priest” is just such a word. The Roman Catholic priesthood comes to my mind first because it is ubiquitous in our society. The ancient...

Like many things in Revelation, interpreters have debated the identity of the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders for centuries. And while they remain a mystery, I do know they sang this song of worship to the Lamb of God.  You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals...

If you stop to talk to anyone you know, the conversation will likely go something like this:  "How are you?"  "Oh, I'm good! Busy, but good!" COVID entered the scene and shook things up a bit but busy didn’t necessarily go away. Essential workers went about their lives with...

Standing unafraid in the presence of God is not for weaklings. If my strength of character is diminished by the parasitic losses of sin or acquired weaknesses of any kind, I am unfit for the full armor of God. If I spend my energies in fearful defenses against my accusers, my strength is not...

Throughout scripture, we are told to love our neighbor. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus says “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second [greatest commandment] is this: ‘You shall love...

Consider this: What good does my patience do you? Is patience a virtue for my own benefit, or is it a grace to be dispensed by me for your benefit? Looking back at the days of early fatherhood when I became aware of my need for patience in a deeper sense, I see now that before the birth of our...

Our new year has not gotten off to a good start, has it? Of course, I am referring to the horrendous scenes from the Capitol Building this past Wednesday. As disgusting as these scenes were, perhaps the most troubling to me was rioters carrying symbols of Jesus as they went about their illegal...