light sources: eclipse

Can anyone see you are a Christian? Or, when they look at you, do they see a lunar eclipse? Does the shadow of the earth blanket you, not allowing the sun’s light to reach you so that you can reflect its rays? Don’t you know that, as a Christian, the sun shines within you and… Read More

light sources: faith in the yet unseen

The sun is shining but how can I reflect its rays when storm clouds of fear and pain block their passage to my soul. My bed is floating on a flood of nightly tears; my gut writhes and clenches as I cry out to you for mercy and help. How long, Oh Lord, how much… Read More

light sources: metaphors

You can take a metaphor just so far before it falls apart. If I am like the moon which reflects the light of the sun, my light source is outside, not attached to me at all. But my source of light— and life, warmth, love, all that I am— is not only outside of me… Read More

light sources: waxing and waning

I reflect His light as the moon does the sun— waxing and waning as the days pass. but the differences in the light I mirror is not a result of my light source’s output— which never wanes or waxes, but blazes with such bright rays that I cannot, in my frailty, look at it head-on… Read More

Jesus’ life of scandal

    something that is shocking, upsetting, or unacceptable   Jesus began his life with scandal—a young girl impregnated by the Holy Spirit.                 Who’s going to ever believe that crazy story?   Not Joseph, the man she was betrothed to. Not her parents. Not her friends. Not the village elders. Or the gossips or… Read More

Urgency and Advent

Oil and Water. Truth and Grace. Urgency and Advent. These things don’t mix. Except when God is a part of the picture. God anoints you as his child and gives you living water. God knows the real you and, by his grace, loves you anyway. But because the truth demands justice, his son came to… Read More