In a short letter he wrote to the small church located in Colossae (in modern day Turkey), the apostle Paul pens the words to the greatest hymn ever written. Scholars believe it was a hymn to Jesus sung by early Christians (a similar hymn is found in Phil. 2:5-11). This hymn is the center of […]

Why does it seem God hides so much? Where is he? Even the ancients admitted: “Truly you are a God who hides himself;” and “Why do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” ((Isa. 43:15; Ps. 10:1). God is funny in that he doesn’t yell at us saying, “Hey,

My wife Stacy and I just returned from a trip of a lifetime to Ireland. The country is breathtakingly beautiful, the people engagingly warm and friendly. I have wanted to visit Ireland for many years now after reading a book by Thomas Cahill entitled How The Irish Saved Civilization.[1] Cahill traces the history of Ireland

Don’t you hate it when you lose something? When is the last time you misplaced your keys? Irritating, isn’t it? Imagine losing something of tremendous value—maybe a $1,000 bill, or your grandmother’s diamond engagement ring.  Even worse–remember the panic you felt when your child got lost at a grocery store, at the mall, or at

Pilate, the Roman proconsul in Jerusalem in the 1st century, asked one of the most controversial, and important, questions we humans ask: “What is truth?” That is the way we usually ask the question. But those who come to know the truth realize that “what is truth” is not the right question.  “What” is not

Pilate was a prophet, but he didn’t know it. He asked one of the most important questions humans can ask (and one of the most controversial ones in our time): What is truth? I am referring to Pontius Pilate, who was the proconsul of the Roman province of Judea around 33 AD. His question, “What

WHY JESUS CHANGED HISTORY FOREVER             “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries. It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” as the old saying goes. And the Old Testament is full of pictures of God—metaphors of what God is like. These pictures come from everyday people like you and me who met God because God encountered them. Each encounter brought some new understanding of this God who is

            “America is great because America is good. Whenever America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”[1] When the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776, John Adams wrote home to his wife Abigail that it would be a day “celebrated by succeeding generations by solemn acts of

The old shepherd’s leather skin burns as he tends his sheep in the hot desert of the Sinai peninsula. Now reaching 80, he thinks back on his life. Born into the lap of luxury in the seat of power in imperial Egypt, he had to flee at the age of 40 because, in a fit