1. Shaking off our sleep, bright and clear, we will open our eyes and huge smiles will come over our faces as we see the familiar faces of so many friends.
  2. When talking about God’s ultimate destination for us, we’ve grown sloppy in our language, nearsighted in our gaze, and un-Easter in our hope. We act and speak as if dying and going to heaven is what the faith is all about. It is most emphatically not.
  3. As our first parents had a bond with the animals, as Noah had animals with him in the reboot of creation after the flood, so after this old creation comes to an end, we will enjoy a new creation that includes animals.
  4. It is freezing, and I am stunned. I had learned about homelessness in school and seen it in movies but to see the way the Mole People lived.
  5. I had been taught and believed in a God who is love, but as I walked outside that night I did not see him. I saw the stars and I felt their indifference.
  6. We’re messed up people with messed up bodies. All of us. Even Miss America gets hemorrhoids. The Fall mocks us in our own skin. We’re all walking sermons.
  7. The danger was not necessarily inside the city. Nor was it from an obvious source. Outside the walls of Thyatira, lay a small shrine of white stone.
  8. Pergamum! Oh, Pergamum! Behold the glory of Pergamum! It was not at this time the greatest provincial power, nor was it the most favored in the Roman Empire.
  9. Many say Balaam was a prophet, but this was not so. Balaam was no prophet. At least, not a prophet of Yahweh.
  10. Jesus has a mighty weapon which is the weapon of His warfare, the sword of His mouth, the very Word of God.
  11. Recently, I've had to confront the idea of death. Not that death is merely an idea, but for me it kind of was. I've been fortunate enough to never have someone I knew unexpectedly pass away until a couple of weeks ago.
  12. In the movie, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Jedi Master Yoda recounts the ancient Jedi teaching before a fearful Anakin, “Fear is the path to the dark side.