Category: Desperation

The author helps you rethink the term “desperation” as necessary for real Christian hope. He re-envisions desperation from its typically negative connotations to the powerfully positive phrase “holy desperation.” He shows how desperation is an opportunity to experience profound hope and renewal of faith. This post lays the foundation for all subsequent posts on his site DesperateforGod.net.

Where Hearts Come Alive

This special place is now my life, absence long results in strife.

Sometimes stillness can affect us in profound ways. We’ve all experienced it in one form or another—a brilliant star-lit night stops our heart, an awesome mountain vista demands our attention, or the fiery hues of an ocean sunset leave us speechless. Somehow these moments add to us and we leave with more than we came. Creation clearly has a way of unveiling the majesty of God (Psalm 19:1). Yet there’s something even more breathtaking than the wonder of creation before us—the glory of God within us. Continue reading “Where Hearts Come Alive”

Rediscovering the Wonder

The next several weeks of blogs will be based on our most recent animated poem, Chapel of My Heart. To see the full text or watch the video, click here.

To my room I would go; I’d talk to God and share my woes.

We live in an age when notions of “spirit” or “spirituality” are often presumed irreconcilable with a scientific (otherwise, true, real, accurate) understanding of the world. Such ideas reflect a “materialist” worldview—the belief that human life and experience are ultimately reduced to nothing more than the material effects of our molecular and chemical components. Continue reading “Rediscovering the Wonder”

Desperate for Change

The next several weeks of blogs will be based on our most recent animated reading. To see the full text of the poem or watch the video, click here.

Change me O Lord, every part …

Just as in the voting booth so too in our personal faith … the greatest force for change begins not at the highest levels of leadership but in the hearts of ordinary people. When national change is needed we tend to look to heroes and leaders while often failing to take serious the incredible potential for change we already carry within us. The kind of change our country needs will not occur until—as Christ followers—we first become desperate for God to change us. Continue reading “Desperate for Change”

Empty Promises

I must soak you and scrub you and scour you smooth – then, only then will you be what I made, an uncluttered channel of My mercy and grace.

Fortunes are risked, friendships jeopardized, and families destroyed when selfishness rules the heart. Whether obvious or hidden, our addiction to self-interest is irrationally stubborn to change … even when it is detrimental to our well-being. Selfishness is deceptive because it promises what it can’t deliver—fulfillment apart from God. Self-centeredness is no respecter of persons. It infects babies, the young, old, rich, poor, bright, and dull. No one is immune to this deceptive vice. Continue reading “Empty Promises”

Surviving Isn’t Enough

At the testing of the thorn, divine grace turns my pain and tears to peace and joy.

I remember a bitter cold night in Missouri when I threw a cup of boiling water into the -20 degree air and saw it instantly turn to snow. The immediate transformation was amazing! The testing of the thorn produces a similar effect in us … something new and remarkable created from the ordinary and plain. Just as with the boiling water and frigid air so too must the conditions be right for the transforming work of grace. We must have a desperate need and a surrendered heart. Continue reading “Surviving Isn’t Enough”

Facing Beggar’s Shame

We are all beggars, all beggars indeed. But, the beggars who live are those who learn where to find the bread and water, who know the Hand that feeds us all.

“I’m not a beggar … I’m a child of God!”

“Why all this talk of begging when God has given us the privilege of sons and daughters? Isn’t Christian salvation more about elevating than demoting our standing before God?”

These very questions reflect how much our perception of salvation is skewed by an unyielding focus on ourselves. Continue reading “Facing Beggar’s Shame”