Why Shepherds?

Philip Huber
4 Dec 2013
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The desired of all nations (Haggai 2:7) has just been wiped clean of amniotic fluid. A proper birth announcement is in order. An angelic messenger, suffused in divine glory brings the news in knee-knocking fashion. The message culminates with a vast throng joining the angel to proclaim, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14). A filmmaker’s fantasy. All manner of special effects employed. It comes with the flare and spectacle deserved of a king. A regal announcement All of this hoo-hah, bombastic and regal, is fitting the occasion. […]

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Tools of Gossip

Philip Huber
2 Jul 2013
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Parties and picnics are a huge part of summer where we gather with friends and family for hamburgers and hotdogs, potato salad and coleslaw, watermelon and popsicles. In the midst of all this socializing, gossip seeps in virtually unnoticed. Constant exposure has deadened our sensitivity to its soiling effect. We have set a place for gossip at our table, and the table cloth has become dingy. The silverware is set neatly around a plate piled high with gossip. The knife “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret” (Proverbs 11:13, NIV). Gossip is a knife that […]

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Great Gatsby & The Gospel

Philip Huber
5 Jun 2013
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Late in his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald scrawled a line in a notebook that has often been repeated, “There are no second acts in American lives.” There are days when I believe this, or at least live like I do. I feel the discouragement of a familiar cycle running its course. The prospect of ever being free from this path can seem thin and unconvincing. I betray my discouragement with hunched shoulders, lowered gaze, shameful countenance and weary disposition. This is a one act play with no set or costume changes and no dramatic plot turns. With no context, it […]

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Hope in Failure

Philip Huber
1 May 2013
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Sometimes the prospect of long-term victory over besetting sin seems impossible. The ruts of long-standing habits are furrowed deep. They are easily settled into and difficult to steer out of. Personal commitment to purity may be sincere and earnest, but a track record of repeated failure punches holes in one’s conviction, draining hope out, drip by drip. It can seem inevitable that, in a moment of weakness or a season of gradual drifting, relapse will occur. On the far side of failure, discouragement hangs heavy. In moments like these, a perspective that offers some hope is needed. Here are five […]

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The Marks of True Repentance

Philip Huber
1 Mar 2013
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Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) have once again been thrust into the spotlight in recent months. After a period of relative calm, the headlines have come with a flurry. In mid-January, Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping his way to Tour de France dominance. In the lead up to the Superbowl, Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens was accused of using deer antler spray, a banned substance, to aid his recovery from a torn tricep early in the season. Almost concurrently came a story involving Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, and a handful of other baseball players appearing on a list from […]

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The Secret to a Successful Marriage

Philip Huber
12 Feb 2013
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“Why can’t marriage always be like that?” We had just finished watching Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightley and were preparing for bed. My wife was deeply moved by the noble and passionate love of Mr. Darcy that is revealed in the end. I was mildly suspicious that this was a set up to expose my lack of romanticism. “Because it’s unsustainable,” I stated, a bit too matter-of-factly. This launched a conversation that spanned two nights in which we explored my wife’s longing for and my own dismissal of this expression of love. It was a circular route, this conversation, […]

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All Things New

Philip Huber
13 Jan 2013
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A new year offers a fresh start, an opportunity for reflection and anticipation. Resolutions are made as to how things will be different this time through the calendar’s rotation from January to December. Vices will be conquered and goals will be met in this new bundle of 365 days. Familiar and unfamiliar A new year is unmistakably familiar. From the cooling of winter, to the blooming of spring, to the color of summer, to the bounty of fall, each season has its own recognizable character, a pattern that holds year after year. Birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays will crop up with […]

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Settled Pilgrims

Philip Huber
4 Oct 2012
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There is a recurring theme in Scripture of the people of God as pilgrims. Much of the narrative of Bible is built around the framework of nomadic journeys. There is the story of Abraham and his journey from Ur to Canaan, and the story of the Exodus when the Israelites journeyed out of Egypt and then traveled through the wilderness for 40 years before reaching Promised Land. Annually, the Israelites had to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast days. Then there is the story of the Babylonian captivity and the return to the land 70 years later. Even Jesus […]

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Do You Know What A Sandhog Is?

Philip Huber
6 Sep 2012
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Commentary We take fresh water for granted. For most, it is as simple as turning on a faucet.  However, it wasn’t always so easily attained. In the early 1800s, before modern plumbing and sewage, the city of New York faced a severe lack of fresh water to meet the needs of their rapidly growing population. Aside from some scattered wells, the city had one major source of water – a large pond in lower Manhattan called the Collect. It served as a reservoir and increasingly as a sewage tank. People dumped all manner of things into the Collect – garbage, […]

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Revealing the Racist Within

Philip Huber
1 Aug 2012
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Forty-nine years ago, in April of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was imprisoned for his participation in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. He was peacefully protesting segregation and, in doing so, he was violating a court ordinance against such demonstrations. In the tension surrounding these protests, a group of eight white clergymen had issued a public statement questioning the timing and methods King was employing. King penned a 21-page response while in prison that has come to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” now considered a classic in civil rights literature. It is disturbing to read, particularly as […]

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