We’ve all been hollowed and shaken with the gut-wrenching question, “Why me?” This certainly happened to Naaman, a well-known and deeply respected military marvel. His story is found in 2 Kings 5. Fame, wealth, and authority surround this man whose name in Hebrew — which is naem— means “be...

  Last week, I wrote about a volunteer from the Red Cross who left me a voicemail. Her name is Bethany. Bethany’s message was prerecorded. You may have received it, too. In her upbeat message, she shared numerous perks available to anyone who came in to donate blood. I also...

  Remember how jarring it was—how unnerving—to hear a robotic, automated voice in your home for the first time? I know you heard it at home because this modern marvel invention predates cell phones. “Oh, great,” some of us must have thought. “Now we have machines that talk like humans—sort...

  Romeo and Juliet gave us the Capulets and Montagues. American history gave us the Hatfields and the McCoys. West Side Story gave us the Jets and the Sharks. Professional baseball still gives us New York Yankee fans and Boston Red Soxs fans. Today, we have those for masks and...

    Here’s the disclaimer upfront. Dr. Seuss died on September 24, 1991. So, technically, he did not come to church in Harford this past Sunday, September 12th. One of his quotes did, however. Seuss never explicitly wrote as a Christian with Christian ideology. This didn’t preclude him in this...

  She said she’d be there for you. She added the following more than once, “You are counting me in, right?” You actually counted her in. On the big day that really mattered to you, she didn’t show. She didn’t even call. We’ve all traveled the road of disappointment. At...

  I didn’t quite know how this phone call would work out. A couple of factors made this a bit uncomfortable. I started with Kim. Surprisingly, she was very cordial. Within a minute of what turned out to be an intake interview, she realized she would have to pass me...

  If you have found yourself living in a loop wondering where God is, or how God is calling to you, you’ll understand the following. Let’s begin with the loop itself. The people of God who enter the Promised Land are involved in what I call a six-phase cycle (or...

A crucial moment in the story of the feeding of 5,000 comes with the question, “So how is everyone going to grab dinner?” The disciples may have looked down with disappointment or dismay at the boy’s meager offering. Perhaps they were even baffled by it. After all, the tike was...

  You know the power of prayer. You are called TO pray. You know prayer to work and you just cannot stop doing it. However, the person you’re praying for may not ask you outright to stop praying for them, but it is more than clear that your prayers—and your...