Living life with steps of faith

My parents asked about choosing a nursing home for my grandparents - and this is what I wrote in an email in response: Hi Dad, Mom mentioned that grandpa fell last night and that you are interested in learning more about nursing homes.  I think the most important thing is to include grandpa & grandma in the process of choosing a place and to make that decision when they are still able to make it for themselves. I'm sure they have heard stories from friends that will influence where they want to be or where they don't want to be.  Just schedule visits to two or three places with them.  Each place handles costs, insurance, and finances differently - so you just have to go and visit and schedule a meeting with their entry people. I would make sure a sibling who is over the age of 65 and personally acquainted with medicare attend this meeting, alongside whichever sibling is going to be the key contact person if grandma and grandpa decide to m...

The Jahi McMath case has troubled me over the last few weeks.   How can I pray and ask God to heal this little girl when so many other families have made the heartwrenching choice to let go and remove life support.   If she were to be healed, wouldn’t this be harmful to those families who accepted the doctors’ prognosis and let go?   Wouldn’t it be cruel of God to heal her when others weren’t “given that opportunity” to be healed? Today, as I sat down to read my daily devotional, I reflected upon the story of the deceased child found in chapter five of Mark.   The community declared and mourned the death of twelve-year-old Tabitha.   Yet Jesus said, “This child is not dead but asleep.”     This statement of Jesus makes me wonder two things.   Was there something Jesus knew about death that the culture of the time didn’t know?   Was she really, truly still alive, yet only asleep?   Or, was this Jesus speaking a...

I went to the doctor today and he said, "Worse case scenario, it is _____."  I started thinking about that statement, "Worse case scenario" and began to fill the blank in with all of the possibilities my mind could come up with. After each I asked myself if that really would be the worse case scenario and with each I could see an opening for the grace of God.  What might be defined as a worse case scenario from a doctor's perspective, from a Christian's perspective might not be all that bad.  Actually, a doctor's worse case scenario might be a Christian's best case scenario.  And what I realized is that with Christ there is no worse case scenario because in every scenario God wins!

  “ So God created mankind in his own image,    in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them. “ Genesis 1:27 This is the foundation of our identity as human beings – created beings made to reflect the image of God.   As such, we are blessed with authority and abilities that no other living creation possesses.   We create.   We think.   We value relationships.   Our existence is a testimony to God’s existence. And as Christians, this identity becomes the heartbeat of our ethics.   We make decisions and behave in manners that recognize the value of human life. We look at our relatives, our friends, our colleagues, and even the stranger on the street and take the time to see the image of God in each of them.   We know that each and every life is precious, including our own. We also recognize the intimacy with God that this identity engenders.   As ones created in God...

"As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." - Matthew 10:7-8 Do you ever wonder why these miracles don't seem to happen anymore?  I've been reading through the gospels and I am struck by the loudness of the theme of healing.  The good news in the gospel accounts isn't just that God has came to us through Jesus Christ, but that the healing authority of God has come to us through Jesus Christ. Do you think this is still true today? Sometimes I think we U.S. Christians have it all wrong.  I think we've missed the message and missed out on the supernatural aspect of faith.  God can still work miracles today!  And it seems in my reading of Scripture that God wants to work those miracles through us.  So, why aren't we letting Him? Prayer:   God, You Created, You gave Life, You Healed.  Help me to experience Your miraculous, supernatural power today....

Fatherhood. This is a word with much power. When we hear the word a variety of emotions and images come to mind, how they are shaped are dependent upon our personal experiences with our own father. In the church, there is a wide range of attitudes toward the title “Father” and its use in the church. There are movements that encourage men “to be men” and other movements that strive for gender equality and sensitivity in addressing God as Father. I suspect that there is a profound reason for God choosing to reveal Himself as “Father.” Perhaps God knew just how much this role would need to be redeemed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2004 Current Population Survey Report “Household Relationship and Living Arrangements of Children Under 18 Years, by Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin,” 23.6 million children (that is basically 1 in 3 children) in the U.S. are “orphaned” by absent biological fathers. The absence of a father makes it 5 times more likely that a child will grow up in ...

This morning as I took a shower I dream about a sermon series I will do once I am the pastor of a church. It was a series that would take place in the summer and the theme would be bio-ethics. I thought about how I would start collecting information in different files for different possible sermon topics, speakers I would have come for an adult Sunday afternoon VBS, and a fun children's Sunday School/VBS curriculum that I could design. Switching between regions of the United States gives me access to whole new kind of resource. My current job has connected me with Christians who are experts in their fields and have learned how to integrate their faith with their work. There is a gift in this. But there is also a gift in my home region and that is a sense of stability and intimacy among a Christian community. In that region I imagine myself doing sermon series that go deeper into one's spiritual walk in a different way. I would still do a bioethics series, but it would probab...

"Have mercy on me!" How often have I heard a begger cry out these words or words like them. Arm outstretched, cup held out, "Have mercy on me!" I purposely don't carry cash so that I will have an excuse not to give, but perhaps I should purposely carry cash for the purpose of giving. "Have mercy on me!" Imagine this, Jesus walking down the road with his followers, on their way out of Jericho they pass by some beggers on the side of the road. They continue walking. Jesus continues walking! Meanwhile, this blind man on the side of the road hears a crowd approaching as usual, but something about their conversation sounds different. He tunes in his attention and catches a few words "healing" "see that look on their faces" "faith" "the words..." He realizes that Jesus and his students are about to cross his path. Jesus, the one who he has heard can heal his blindness, so that he once again will be able to see! The...

What would need to change in order to get the cost of a regular doctor's appointment to under $50? (This is the total cost, including the patient's, insurance company's, and government's contribution.)

"When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." - 1 Peter 2:23-24 I realized this morning as I was reading this passage of Scripture how formative my Bioethics class was this past fall. Prior to taking this class I really struggled with both the theology of original sin and the series of deaths of young people during my childhood, and adolescents. Original Sin is such a very basic theological belief that is accepted by many across the theological spectrum, yet I struggled to accept it. I think this struggle contributed to my inability to create meaning out of the deaths of so many young lives. My bioethics class and professor though helped to bring together much of my theological training and life experience to deepen the meaning ...

I'm going to start listing health care reform ideas! Because this is the priority of this Congress this summer. Tell your friends to stop by and leave their ideas! We are going to make a difference. Idea 1: Restrict the percentage of the consumer cost pharmaceuticals are allowed to spend on direct-to-consumer advertising! Remember: At one point in history medical care was not a comodity in the way that we think of it today. At one point doctors played a role similar to ministers - they provided a service!