From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. // Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 61:2-3, Psalm 62:8 NIV)

God is alive. And He is active. And He is loving.

Consider the ramifications of those simple statements. If He is alive, then we must ask what His existence means for us. If He is active, then we would be blind, foolish, or selfish to not notice what He is doing. And if He is loving…well…what is one to think of a God like that? Is it indeed possible to both be in awe of Him and draw close to Him at the same time?

If any or all of those simple statements are false, what’s to be done except pity the people who believe them to be true. Those misguided dreamers.

If only the first is true, what real honor is now due Him? If just the first and second are true, why should we not live our lives in deepest terror of what He might allow next? But if all three are true, that changes everything.

On to another claim. We are made in the image of God. Marvelously. If one doubts it, I invite that person to kindly explain all the mysterious intricacies of a human being to me.

Take for example, the ear. Made to hear sounds that delight and warn and educate. But also made to capture words so we can listen from the heart.

There are two simple observations about the design of the ear that strike me today. One is how the outline of a single ear is very similar to half of our traditional heart shape, and if we are to put the outline of two ears together, facing each other, it forms a whole heart. I also love how when the head is tipped to the side, water and other solutions can be poured into the ear to flush it clean, the ear becoming like a tiny well.

I see a connection between these two simple observations and the verses quoted above. We are made in God’s image, and in whatever way He does it, He hears us. When we call, our cry lands upon His ear. And when we pour out our hearts to Him, our thoughts, needs, and longings trickle down into the depths of His heart.

We may be afraid to say things that we think or feel. And sometimes, when we do dare to say them, it seems like no person around us is listening.

But be encouraged, and rest assured. For we can tell God anything. And when we tell Him, we are surely, and lovingly, heard.

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The very first thing God ever made was light. Does this mean there was no light before He created it? Yes and no.

There was no physical universe, and no light in that physical universe, before He created those things. But everlasting light, in the sense of God and Heaven and His Spirit, has always been and it will always be.

It is the Light that is everlasting (both from forever-past until now AND from the past and now on until forever). It is this Light that both encompasses Jesus as a part of the Trinity and also encircled His human being while He chose to walk the earth inside the bounds that bind us.

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (Jn. 1:4-5, 9 – NIV)

The words for today’s art are inspired by a hymn, one written by a man named Rusty Edwards. His original first line says, “Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light.” I chose to change the words slightly, however, because I think there is a difference between seeing God’s light as “a liberating light” and as “the everlasting light.”

There are multiple ways one can think of that, but I will focus one viewpoint today. To me, God’s light as a liberating light focuses on the freedom we find in this life and world, certainly for our souls from fear of death and bondage to sin, but also for our bodies from addictions and pain, and for our minds from ignorance and pride. And God’s light as the everlasting light focuses on all those things outside this life and world that we cannot really see and know (at least a taste of) until we get to Heaven.

Both levels or aspects of this light we need are so important.

We need the first light to give us hope and strength in this life, to believe that new life in His light and freedom in the face of our humanity are each present-day possibilities…indeed, chooseable actualities.

And we need the second light to help us glimpse the possible reasons behind all the things we can’t see clearly now. For if we trust that everlasting light and the goodness of Providence, we will have hope and strength to face all the things we are not, for some reason, set free from in this earthly journey — and all the things we cannot comprehend this side of Heaven.

After all, isn’t faith ultimately being certain of what we cannot see with these human eyes? (See Heb 11:1.) And doesn’t one need light to see anything at all?

“God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn 1:5b – NIV) Light to liberate now? Yes. Light to shine through the dark clouds of our weakness and limitations when struggles sometimes remain? Yes. Light to help us see and know fully even as we are fully known when the bounds of time are no more? Yes.

To the One who both is the Light and maintains the Light — without making a mistake (though I cannot fathom Your ability now): praise be.

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This Father’s Day, I want to focus on my Heavenly Father. He is the one who has truly done everything for me. More than I can ever fathom or repay. And all He wants in return from me is time with Him, to see His grace and goodness, and to let loose the gratitude in my heart.

On the Eve of Father’s Day, when I was driving home, I was distracted by a special cloud bank to the side. The cloud itself was seamless and unbroken, perfectly and symmetrically white. It was a silent display, and yet it exploded with the sound of the song of His love.

The sight of that sky along with the song of love it played for me inspired this poem. May it bless your heart as it has blessed mine.

A Sign For You

See how I love you, child of My hands and heart.

I have from the start, before you were consciously aware.

And when My care leaves you speechless, doubting worthiness,

I send my kindness in light, in gifts, and wait for you to see it.

Today, you raised your eyes from introspection to soak in

Sight of the heavens singing, fortissimo, over you at My command

Spread by My hand: a comforter, snowy, tucked into the blue,

Both sky and cloud — hues of perfection. And your gaze drank beauty.

So your soul was quieted to hear My voice:

“See now, My child,

There is no hint of gray,

For I’ve washed fear away

And wrapped you in the blanket of

My holiness, in the robe of

My kindness, in the covering of

My love.”

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How do we handle the challenges that come from within and embrace more effective personal growth when cooperating with God’s Spirit?

If you get to know me very well at all, you’ll know I am a detail person. It is a blessing when I want to experience an event with full sensory delight or when I need to edit a manuscript. It feels like a curse when I notice a tiny troublesome element that distracts me from enjoying everything else or when I review the published draft and see the small mistakes I missed.

Why is it important to notice details? The focused answers range widely, from needing to report a crime and find a suspect…to recommending the supreme restaurant with the best steak due to unique nuances…to pinpointing the root of a medical or relational issue so healing can come. Imagine a surgeon who didn’t care where he reattached the end of your detached tendon or a mother who didn’t pay attention to how much hot sauce she dumped into the casserole for her small children.

But a critical — and often-avoided — area where details need to be accurately and frequently noticed is the area of our personal growth. These details need to be observed and addressed accurately because it is easy to either be overly critical and doubtful of our ability to grow OR too quick with and lenient on ourselves. And they need to be observed and addressed frequently because the greatest positive growth happens with a slow steadiness that brings lasting improvement while the best correction of negative tendancies happens when such things are caught early.

There are several keys to undergird more meaningful noticing in this critical part of our lives, including all areas: the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional.

We must ask God to help us see what He has already seen. Most people don’t naturally look for all the details or notice them successfully. We gain this skill through training and practice. Who better to train us than the One who has seen everything already? And who better to help us practice this habit than the One who is supremely patient?

We must be discerning when we listen to others. People around us may see things differently or more clearly than we do. So keeping wise company and listening when that company speaks are two very important habits to maintain. At the same time, we are all limited in our humanity, and so we must learn to think carefully about the observations and advice of others, in terms of our own growth.

We must remember that there are still (and will always be) clear lines of right and wrong as well as true measures of what is helpful and harmful. Culture has changed over time, but eternal truth hasn’t. And the latter is what guides us best on this road of holistic learning.

We must desire humility and rejoice in every day where we live to see justice and mercy embrace each other a little more in our lives.

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I am myopic. Have been nearly all my life. I can barely recall what it is to not see only extreme fuzziness without glasses.

And I am not alone. According to an article by Fabian Yii on The Fab Vision blog, based on reliable statistics and projections, by next year 34% of the world’s population will be short-sighted. (Full article at: https://www.thefabvision.com/2018/04/03/countries-myopia-short-sighted-world-prevalence/ )

Myopia of the eyes, however, is not the only – nor indeed the most serious – form of the condition. We cannot always clearly see how:

  • Our habits may be harming us…and others
  • Some choices in this moment will likely affect us negatively in the long run
  • The hardships and struggles we face today could very well be resolved in the near future
  • The kindness we show to others really does brighten the world and change things for the better, one day and one person at a time

This year, we have already explored how we can be fully known and learn from that experience to more rightly know ourselves and others. And we have also considered what it means to be loved first so that we can more effectively love. When we have been seen — in all our greatness and strength…and in all our brokenness and pain — we learn to see.

To see God, self, neighbors, and the world differently.

It’s like having myopia and getting fitted for corrective lenses.

I don’t remember exactly what caused me to know I could no longer see as clearly as before. Perhaps it was something my kindergarten teacher noticed and mentioned to my parents. At any rate, I only know that it wasn’t until the eye doctor first set the “right” prescription of test lenses over my eyes that I became aware of just how fuzzy the world had started to become.

And when I began to see more accurately, the world was both clearer and brighter.

In the next few weeks, we’ll explore together how we can handle both the positive things and the hard things when we see them with corrected vision.

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God has seen everything about us, in our past and our present and our future.

And He still loves us so much that He is willing and desiring to draw us close and protect us.

At the end of this Psalm, the Psalmist invites God to see him again and know him deeper still.

The choice to invite Him in, to remain and to want Him to see us, in every aspect from our joys to our terrors, for an entire life’s journey: I know of no greater sign of trust and dependence.

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I love my Composition 101 students. But my class session with them this past week was a tough one. That’s because I was trying to help them discover how to write an argument paper in a counterintuitive way.

Not as a soapbox to shout from or boxing match to win in one round, but as a chance to see both/all sides of an issue and learn about the roots beneath all the different thinkers holding their thoughts.

This is what a colleague recently labeled as using “dignified dialogue” — bringing more beneficial results without so much emotionally-fueled fire to burn down relationships, communities, and nations.

But this challenges my students for several reasons. For one thing, it goes against the way many of them were taught to think and write in high school. For another, it’s hard to see different and more varied gradations in the “same old” sides we have so often heard to various hot button arguments. Additionally, and perhaps most crucially in my mind, many people never learn how to consider the root issues behind different types of arguments, the source of what drives people to say what they say or feel as passionately as they feel, especially when we meet someone from an “enemy” camp.

Ironic: how right around the time of that lesson, a certain ban was passed by Alabama’s state government. (I am glad I left my phone in my office while teaching that evening because my text inbox and social media account were exploding in connection.)

I don’t usually use this space to discuss politics, and I will not go on a rant now. I do have my own strongly held beliefs on the subjects of life, choice, mothers, and babies. These have changed slightly over the course of my life, given much thought, observation, and experience, but I still hold them near and dear, without apology.

Yet, to stick to my point, as I read countless responses from friends and friends’ friends on all sides of the ban and the greater issue, all I can see are the tops of the roots: fear, anger, defensiveness, bitterness, accusations, pain. I say these are the tops of the roots, because I know these things stem from something even deeper in the hearts of the writers and the ranters.

All I can think is: what brought this person or that person to this point? Why is he so angry? Why is she so afraid? Why can’t they (on any “side”) see the fear, anger, pride, or pain of someone from another side and have enough compassion to handle their roots with care?

This is, in part, what I am helping my comp students learn how to do. I am not yet a master at it, and sometimes the arguements I meet in daily life are so volatile, I must walk away from them in silence for the sake of my own wellbeing.

But remember that experience I mentioned a moment ago? I know what is to have my own pain, anger, hatred, confusion, bitterness, and fear plainly seen by the Master Teacher-Gardener (One who was also a Master of dignified dialogue). And I know what it is to have Him uncover, clean, and prune my roots with great tenderness.

When I have been seen thusly and come out the better for it, I find I must, for my part, follow His example to approach those around me and seek to be both dignified and compassionate in all my communication with them.

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oil pastel on paper

Who is it hardest to truly be seen by? God? Other people? Or our own heart, when reality is faced?

Perhaps all of the above, each in its own way. These were the thoughts that moved me to create this artistic piece and to write a poem afterward. The poem below, entitled Ashes Sprout Beauty, is a collection of eight stanzas, each written as a haiku.

I will leave you to ponder it, dear reader. Be seen, and embrace the beauty that can spring forth.


Shadows hide poorly
Because eyes adjust to find
What’s been all along.

Yet I grasp shadows:
Imaginary blankets
Of security,

Until my fingers
Find they are grasping only
Dense smoke and mirrors.

So, now, you ask me
“Whose eyes were opened to see:
Yours, mine, or the Lord’s?”

Not the Lord’s, for He
Has always shone, bright and clear,
Seeing…and loving still.

Perhaps yours now glimpse
The fragile outlines beneath
Gray veils too long worn.

But it is I who
Must, truly and fully, name
That seen by my heart:

Light shines through fractures
To nourish petals—hidden
Treasure of beauty.

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Language changes with time. Sometimes the language itself…and sometimes our usage or cultural understanding of it.

Take the ways in which Americans have spoken of those who are not average or normal in a mental, physical, or developmental sense. Generations ago, such people might have been labeled as simple, infirm, mad, or pitiful. When I was young, the term retarded was used interchangeably as a psychological label for certain children and adults and also informally to describe something that was foolish or dumb. Shortly after this, I often heard the word handicapped used to describe people who had a wide variety of conditions; we just stuck another adjective in front (such as physically or mentally) to specify which category of abnormality we were describing.

And now, the term I heard thrown around in every direction, especially for children and young adults is special needs. We don’t want to speak of people with limitations and possibly problematic conditions in a way that sounds remotely demeaning or negative. So we label them as special.

I am not poking fun at anyone; I write this in all seriousness. And I am not trying to say people with certain limitations should be denied needed assistance; yes, let we who are on the more average and normal end of the spectrum have understanding and compassion for them (and their caregivers).

What I am saying is: I find it ironic that we would now use the term special needs to refer to such individuals when we are all special in God’s sight and we all have needs in God’s sight. Only God sees each one of us with so much individual love and intimate understanding. And only God sees the needs we have that no one else knows about — or knows the depths of. (Arguably, even those people who are extremely dramatic and open about their needs often have even deeper needs that only God really understands and can fill.)

But being seen can be scary. Especially for those of us who are labeled as normal or average in our society, who are not listed as special needs individuals, and who try to hold it together for the sake of sticking out as admirable instead of sticking out as special.

And yet, for whatever cosmetics we may put on, fences we may put up, and virtual posts we may put out, we are still special, needy, frail, and limited.

Sometimes we need the reminder to stop running, hiding, purchasing, glossing, binging, or denying…and to stand still and openly before the One from whom we cannot hide.

And know that when we are seen by Him, we are truly and rightly seen.

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Truth: is it absolute or relative? Yes.

At least according to the author of the text I currently use to teach English Composition.

As my Comp 101 students dive into the world of personal essays, they are encouraged to consider centering their essay on truth. But they are also urged to note that some truth is “the” truth (what is real or truly happened) and what is “a” truth (how only they remembered or perceived something).

So how do we know that we really know the truth?

I have tried to remain openminded and watched my current group of students wrestle through understanding this distinction in the past few weeks (while clearing professional and personal hurdles of my own). Meanwhile, I have reflected on this distinction more deeply from two angles, briefly summarized here.

Absolutism v. Relativism

Growing up, I was taught that the philosophy of relativism was the antithesis and enemy of orthodox faith. But while I am not advocating a free-for-all, continually-fuzzy mentality, if we are honest, followers of Jesus must recognize a tension of both absolute truth and truth we experience or know through personal situations and discovery. And we must rely on both…but in different amounts at different times.

The absolute truth is the rock foundation beneath the house. It cannot always be seen or even sometimes consciously felt. But it is there. Solid. Sure. Unbreakable. With the belief I profess, there is only one such source of this truth: the Almighty God who has revealed it generally (through creation and the natural world) and specifically (through the Holy Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ).

But there are also truths I know by observing things and people and the things I go through in my life. Though experiences may be similar, they are still relative, in a way, to each individual person’s mind, heart, and soul. They are true for you, or me, or both of us. They are the walls, windows, and decorative features of our houses, to continue the metaphor. Over time, these things may prove true continuously or change and adapt as we learn and relearn.

What is a follower of Christ to do with this dichotomy? First, we are to use both levels of truth to love our neighbors and share light with them. We must remember that most people want and need to hear about truth as it is knowable in real life experience, yet we must never water down the truth in order to help another person avoid life-changing discomfort. Second, when we feel conflict between the truth and our personal experience, we must remember words from Jeremiah 17 and 1 John 3: our hearts can be deceitful — or led to condemn us falsely. So if there is ever a conflict between what we hear in the Word and prayer and what we experience or “feel,” we must always rely more heavily on the former and use it as our foremost litmus test for ultimate truth.

The Renewed Mind

Speaking of being deceived, many of us have, somewhere along the line, started believing things as “truth” that are not really true at all. These things may be totally bogus or partly true but skewed. And they have been told to us consciously or subconsciously, actively or passively, by members of our family, community, or collective culture.

We perceive these lines and concepts as true. But they are not. Yet, to recognize them as lies and let go of them when they may have been with us for years or even a lifetime…? That’s like rocketing through the roof of the house, shooting past the atmosphere, and flying (weightless and untethered) in zero gravity.

But again, as a follower of Jesus, I recognize I am called to this. To fix my eyes on Him. To be filled with His truth. To let go of the lies and half truths that have driven me toward unnecessary, unattainable, or even ungodly ends, and to float in the weightlessness of His grace.

Then, in His time, He is renewing my mind and grounding me again on the foundational understanding of truth.

His truth.

The truth.

And when we know the truth, then we will be truly free (John 8:32, 36).

Amen…for each of us who would have the desperation and courage to embrace it.

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