My best Christmas recollection as a child actually began on summer vacation.  I was about eight years old and my dad and I were walking through the tourist village where we were vacationing. I saw a pair of red, knit slippers with fake leather sole and Indian beads on top. They were those ugly slippers that were basically thick socks with a sole sewn on so you could walk outside.  I repeat, ugly! When I saw them, I said to my dad, “I bet mom would like those,” thinking he would spend the eight dollars and get them for her.  […]

We talk a lot about freedom – Jesus came to set the captives free, and if the Son has set you free you are free indeed!  But did you ever consider the height, width and depth of this freedom? I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself […]

Tests can be challenging. I remember studying relentlessly for a calculus test back in college. The instructor had the goal of ensuring that his students learned certain concepts by the end of the course and had written his test to discover whether or not we had in fact learned those concepts. Happily, I aced it, even the bonus questions. In so doing, I was awarded a perfect score and had the satisfaction of having learned the material for future use in my professional career. God often tests His people with respect to spiritual matters. Why does He test us? Ultimately, […]