Trophies

He was brilliant. Clearly a child prodigy . . . the pride of Salzburg . . . a performer par excellence. At age five he wrote an advanced concerto for the harpsichord. Before he turned ten he had composed and published several violin sonatas and was playing from memory the best of Bach and Handel. Soon after his twelfth birthday he composed and conducted his own opera . . .

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Destination Unknown

Do you know where you are going? The place? Dublin, Ireland. The time? Toward the end of the nineteenth century. The event? A series of blistering attacks on Christianity, especially the “alleged resurrection” of Jesus of Nazareth. The person? Thomas Henry Huxley. You remember Huxley. Devoted disciple of Darwin. Famous biologist, teacher, and author. Defender of the theory of evolution.

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Things That Really Matter

IF YOU FOUND YOURSELF near the end of your days, close to death, who or what would you most want by your side? That’s a compelling question, isn’t it? I know that as I grow older, much that I once attended to and perhaps even worried over through the years means very little now that I’m in my eighth decade. In those times of rare but necessary reevaluation, what’s really important comes into clearer focus.

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Doing vs. Being

My high school graduating class had its thirtieth anniversary reunion a number of summers ago. I’m sure they had a ball. A blast would better describe it, knowing that crowd. You gotta understand the east side of Houston back in the 1950s to have some idea of that explosive student body . . . a couple of thousand strong and a lot of ’em mean as a junkyard dog with a nail in his paw.

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A Willingness to Go with God

WHEN GOD CALLS A SERVANT, there is little room for negotiation. The most striking example of this is when God spoke to Abram, lifting him from obscurity and setting him on a course that would change human history. The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous. GENESIS 12:1–2

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Appraising Your Life

IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE you took stock of where you are going, hasn’t it? And how about an evaluation of the kids? Or your marriage? Or your own future? You know what I mean: trimming off the fat of lazy thinking and taking a lean, hard look at your remaining years. As I write, I’m now in my eighties. If Christ doesn’t return (and I don’t die in the meantime), I figure I’ll keep going until I’m at least one hundred!

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I, Me, Mine, Myself

Let’s admit it; ours is an age of gross selfishness. The “me” era. And we get mighty uncomfortable even when God begins to make demands on us. Of course, our inner “self” doesn’t want to dump God entirely.

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Surrendering Your Will

THE PSALMIST WAS CORRECT: the heavens do indeed proclaim the glory of God. The skies do indeed display his craftsmanship (see Psalm 19:1). And when you mix that unfathomable fact with the incredible reality that He cares for each one of us right down to the last, tiniest detail, the psalmist is, again, correct: “such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6).

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Overcoming Discouragement

BEING A PROPHET IN Israel wasn’t an easy gig. That’s the understatement of the year. Most of the men God called were expected to boldly bear the bad news of God’s displeasure with the attitudes and sins of His people. One such prophet often found himself in the pit of despair. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame. JEREMIAH 20:17–18

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Don’t Wait

I’M THE GUY WHO PROMOTES WAITING and allowing the Lord to open the doors and shove you through. You know, all the stuff you expect a preacher to say. I even quote verses that support doing all of the above. Right about now, we may need a change of emphasis. I’m not suggesting we forget about waiting and trusting. What I am suggesting is that we realize the possibility of running it into the ground.

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