300 words a day

I have written elsewhere about deliberate practice. Simply, it is choosing to work in a focused way on the weakest parts of what you are best at. Such specific work can, I think, apply in following Jesus. It came to mind when looking at what Jesus said about gates and roads. “Enter through the narrow […]

All the rules. All the warnings. All the cautionary tales. All the words. Everything that his audience had been learning since birth, Jesus said, could be summed up in one phrase. We call it the golden rule. We make it a wall plaque. We teach it to little children to train them to share. “So […]

God. Abram was called by you and loved by you and blessed by you. But you say that it wasn’t his amazing personality or his wonderful business skills or his faithful worship that were behind the call and love and blessing. It was you all along. We forget that, God. We work hard sometimes, but […]

“But I’m not a two-year-old,” we say. “And besides, comparing people to God isn’t appropriate anyway.” Really? Are you sure? Because that’s exactly what Jesus does to help us understand how God listens to us. He’s talking to the crowd on the hillside. He’s been talking to everyone, but now he speaks directly to the […]

We all have stories about God not answering our prayer. We asked for help on the test. We failed. We asked for healing for the child. She died. We asked “Why?” We didn’t hear anything. Given our experience, many of us read these words that Jesus said and we cringe: “Ask and it will be […]