The Case against Vanilla

I cannot imagine anything more boring and less desirable than being poured into the mold of predictability as I grow older. Few things interest me less than the routine, the norm, the expected, the status quo. Call it the rebel in me, but I simply cannot bear plain vanilla when life offers so many other colorful and stimulating flavors. A fresh run at life by an untried route will get my vote every time—in spite of the risk.

Keeping Your Word

March 11, 1942, was a dark, desperate day at Corregidor. The Pacific theater of war was threatening and bleak. One island after another had been buffeted into submission. The enemy was now marching into the Philippines as confident and methodical as the star band in the Rose Bowl parade. Surrender was inevitable. The brilliant and bold soldier, Douglas MacArthur, had only three words for his comrades . . .

God’s Aware of Your Tears

TEARS HAVE A LANGUAGE ALL THEIR OWN, needing no interpreter. In some mysterious way, our inner-communication system knows its verbal limitations, and the tears come. Eyes that flashed and sparkled moments before are flooded. Tears are not self-conscious. They can spring upon us when we are in public or standing beside others who look to us for strength.

Two Questions

Comparing the acts of forgiving and forgetting, I think forgetting is the tougher assignment. Why? Because forgetting is something shared with no other person. It’s a solo flight.

When God Forgives

TRUTH BE TOLD, it’s God’s forgiveness of us that makes it possible for us to forgive others. Jesus Christ paid in full the penalty for our sin. God’s wrath was expressed against Him—the One who took our place. God was therefore satisfied in His Son’s sacrifice . . . allowing all who would turn, in faith, to the Savior to be totally forgiven. Christ’s blood washed away our sin.

Rising above Disappointment

WHAT HAPPENS THAT causes you to be disappointed? Someone or something has failed to fulfill your expectations. You had set up in your mind and then anticipated a certain outcome or response, but it never materialized. Your wish fell flat. Your desire became an empty, unfulfilled dream. Such feelings of disappointment are painfully familiar.

Songs in the Night

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THE SONGS OF the faith to help us live beyond the grind. Why else would God have inspired those age-old compositions? Surely, He realized the lasting value of each musical masterpiece and therefore preserved them to help us persevere. They drip with the oil of glory that enables us to live beyond the grind.

The Blessings of Family

A FAMILY IS LIKE MANY THINGS, perhaps most like a garden. It needs time, attention, and cultivation. The sunshine of laughter and affirmation. It also needs the rains of difficulties, tense moments, and serious discussions about issues that matter. And there must be spadework, where hardness is broken loose and planting of fresh seeds is accomplished with lots of TLC. Someone recently passed on to me suggestions for fifteen rows worth planting:

Blowing It

IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US. Teachers as well as students. Cops as well as criminals. Parents as well as kids. The diligent as well as the lazy. Not even presidents are immune. Or corporation heads who earn six-figure salaries. What am I talking about? Making mistakes, that’s what. Doing the wrong thing, usually with the best of motives. And it happens with remarkable regularity. Let’s face it, success is overrated.

Be Still and Know

AS I WRITE THIS, the thermometer registers in the nineties. The air is still and heavy. The dog is panting at my feet, the sun is high, and the birds are silent and still. Within a matter of hours night will fall, the dark sky will be ablaze with moon and stars, and sleep will force itself on me. As I slumber, life will continue uninterrupted. Appreciated or not, the canvas of nature will go on being painted by the finger of God.

Tag Archives: Psalms