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Recently a friend asked for prayer. She’s working on her masters and knew an internship was part of the degree plan. What she didn’t know was that she had two weeks to find one! She confessed her stress and asked for prayer. This comment sprang from my mouth, “God created the world in six days.…

In the Old Testament blessing, God illustrates His love for us while giving us a powerful tool to impart unconditional love to our own families. My husband and I often give this blessing when a new season of life occurs. A new school year. A transition, perhaps from high school to college or from school…

Deuteronomy 28 and 29 set forth blessings and curses. We tend to associate the Old Testament Mosaic system with harshness. Cause and effect. Sowing and reaping. No grace. No mercy. However, what is actually recorded is the stuff of the New Testament, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love . . .…

Worldbuilding. It’s used by fiction writers to create a specific setting. Think of “a galaxy far, far way” in Star Wars, the Shire in Lord of the Rings, or Panem in The Hunger Games. Nadeem Kazi gives this a twist. Words. We don’t associate them with our world. Sometimes they gush like water from a fire…

This quote from one of my class lectures resonated with me. This semester, I have Acts and the Pauline Epistles. I’m deep in Acts, and, let me tell you, Acts is the textbook for cross-cultural communication. And, make no mistake, our present culture is at odds with our faith. What once drew respect now draws…

A semicircle of scholars wrapped around the two. Learned men. Men of means. Leaders in the community. Stumped. Flummoxed by a couple of blue-collar guys. Fishermen, no less. Followers of Jesus. Their scholarly noses wrinkled at the thought. Yet, the man, who had been crippled from birth, stood nearby, wiggling his toes and bouncing on his…

Time limits. Writers love them. An endpoint creates urgency, raises the stakes, and increases the tension. Will James Bond diffuse the bomb in time? Will the hero get to the airport before his romantic interest flies out of his life—forever? Will the police find the kidnapped victims before they suffocate in the deranged killer’s sweltering…

North Texas produced a bumper crop of wildflowers this spring. As I traveled from DFW to Wichita Falls, to Waco, and to Austin, my eyes feasted on bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, Mexican hats, buttercups, and blanket flowers. Blues and yellows, reds and oranges, and pinks and purples splashed the spring green of new grass. Jesus pointed…

Grace. Unmerited favor. A gift. The opposite of karma because with karma, it’s about work. What you get depends on what you do. God speaks to what we have earned, “ . . . for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  Looking forward to that paycheck? Me neither, but that’s what we’ve got…

Karma. The law of cause and effect. Hinduism and Buddhism claim it determines your destiny. In essence, you determine your destiny. Good choices lead to good things. Bad choices lead to . . . well, good luck with that. Sadly, the church has bought into karma. Does the Bible speak of consequences? Of course, it does…