I really like Caravaggio's painting of Jesus calling St. Matthew (painted around 1600).  Matthew the tax collector is called to leave his $$ and follow Jesus.  (Luke 5:27-32)Look at the painting closely.  Click on the painting to enlarge it and better understand my take on this stirring piece of magnificent art.To the far right isContinue reading "When God Calls…"

"There are very few peoplewho realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace." (St. Ignatius)I ask for the grace to trust myself totally to God's love.

One of the great Christian minds of our day is Os Guinness.  I've just finished his newest book called Unspeakable:  Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror. (HarperCollins, 2005).  Though a true intellectual, Guinness will not go off and leave you.  Very good book!Let me whet your appetite with this quotationContinue reading "Some mysteries you cannot know"

The reason I went through the 8-week Hospice volunteer program a year ago is because I believe all humans deserve to die with dignity...Yesterday I visited with an 82-year-old gentleman in his home while his 50-year-old daughter ran errands and got some fresh air.  The man asked what I did during the week.  I toldContinue reading "Pondering the great mystery of life and death"

"In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.  But you remain the same, and your years will never end." Continue reading "It is not about us…"

About a week ago, I heard Bill Hybels (Senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church) and Marcus Buckingham (leadership guru and author of the best-selling book First Break all the Rules [Simon and Schuster]) speak via pre-recorded simulcast.  Both gave leadership challenges to pump up pastors and leaders around the United States for Hybels' highly-toutedContinue reading "What things do you instinctly?"

My best friend from college is an Army Chaplain in the final years of a 20-year-stint in the military.  He spent last year in a camp along the Kuwait/Iraq border.  He said the men called up from the reserves to serve in Iraq --  very often informed in the final months of their tour ofContinue reading "The work of a chaplain"

My son and I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed Martha Beck's Leaving the SAINTS -- How I lost the Mormons and Found my Faith(Crown Publishers, New York, 2005).  The book is a long, extraordinarily well-written expose of Martha's totally dysfunctional Mormon family and her rather ignominious leaving of the Mormon faith.  This reading ofContinue reading "Is your memory accurate?"