belief – Page 4 – 300 words a day

Not the expected journey.

First published November 17, 2011 I love stories about people praying and then having answers. It’s exciting. I mean, look at this story. Paul writes a letter to some people in Rome. He talks about his travel schedule and his desire to visit them. And he asks them to pray for him. Pray that I may be […]

by Paul Merrill

Old gloves

I have this pair of old gloves. My parents gave them to me when I was in high school. They were not top-quality back then, but they still work fine. However, I’ve had to stitch up the seams about a million times – even this week. Our culture functions around the concept of planned obsolescence. […]

by Jon Swanson

Not Peter’s life. Not John’s life. Yours.

(The last in a series on choosing to learn. First published January 16, 2013) Jesus and Peter had just finished breakfast. Grilled fish and toast. There’s no textual evidence of coffee. (The story’s in John 21.) It was a somewhat awkward conversation. Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to affirm their relationship. It was probably to […]

by Jon Swanson

Football and baptism.

(First published February 24, 2011. I got to participate again the other night.) I don’t know whether or not you watch football on television. If you don’t, sometime you need to watch the very end of a football game. As the last few seconds disappear from the clock, watch the winning coach very closely. You […]

by Jon Swanson

What is that to you?

Jesus and Peter had just finished breakfast. Grilled fish and toast. There’s no textual evidence of coffee. (The story’s in John 21.) It was a somewhat awkward conversation. Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to affirm their relationship. It was probably to undo the three times Peter denied the relationship. Nothing specific was said about that […]