Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

    My birthday was last month and I had a nice day. We had dinner with our daughter, my wife made a beautiful birthday cake, and I got some nice presents and cards.   The lead-up to my birthday made me think about faith and trust. I trusted my wife and daughter to do their best to make it a good day for me, even though I didn’t know all the details. My trust was based on many years of birthday celebrations that I’ve had and knowing the love they have for me.   We often trust people without giving it much thought, whether they be family/loved ones or professional people such as doctors, pilots, or repairmen. We trust the former because of their love for us and the latter because of their knowledge and abilities.   While we confidently trust in fallible people, we sometimes find it hard to trust in God, who is all loving, all knowing, and all powerful. Why is this? I’m not sure, but I think a contributing factor may be that we tend to take God for g...

  I went to visit an old friend of mine this week. We have known each other since kindergarten (over 60 years!) but haven’t seen each other much in recent years since we live half a country apart. I got ready for my visit by gathering up some old letters that my friend had written to me many years ago. I used to take all the letters I received and put them into a box to save. I still have the box after several moves and several decades. The letters bring me joy when I re-read them.   We live in a day of E-mails and text messages and Facebook posts. Letter writing has become a lost art. I like writing letters because they give me time to compose my thoughts and be more personal. I love to receive letters, even if they are just quick, scrawled out notes.   Among the early disciples was a man named Joseph, from Cyprus. He was such a source of encouragement to others that the apostles called him Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). He is referred ...

  We were in the path of the total eclipse today. For days, even as late as this morning, the weather forecast was for clouds obscuring the eclipse. God blessed us as the clouds began to break just as the eclipse began and we had clear skies for totality.   It was an awe-inspiring experience! I was surprised that it was still relatively light even when the eclipse was almost total. As soon as totality began, it became dark as night, you could see the planets in the sky, the temperature dropped, and everything got quiet.   Viewing the eclipse made me think about our spiritual lives. Any time we let something come between us and God, we begin to block out the light in our lives. It doesn’t have to be a question of sin; it can be anything that takes priority over God and our relationship with Him. It can even be Christian service, if we are doing it on our own and not in accordance with God’s will. Just as in the eclipse, we can block out more and more of God’s light and...

  Years ago, I entered a contest from a local Christian radio station. It was one of those contests where they called out the winner’s name on the air and you had a certain amount of time to call in and claim your prize. As it happened, they called my name one evening. I was out of the house and so I never heard the message and missed out on my prize. This was before those newfangled cell phones came into being, so when you were out of the house, you were out of touch. I later found out that several of my friends were trying to reach me with the good news but couldn’t find me.   I’m convinced that God wants to do much more for us than we are allowing Him to do, because His   infinite love for us overflows beyond anything that we can imagine. I’m reminded of the beggar in Acts 3 who wanted money from Peter but got something far better – the use of his legs. God is reaching out, asking us to “call in and win”, but we don’t get the message. I suspect that most people are...

  Some of you may remember that we went to my wife’s family reunion in Kansas last year. The day began with Mass in the old church that was home to her family a century ago. I was moved by the spirit of hundreds of people sharing their common heritage and faith. I saw it as a throwback to a time of simple, basic Christian gatherings and worship.                  The early Christian church grew rapidly in the years following Jesus’ ascension to heaven despite persecution and ostracism from the surrounding society. Why were so many people attracted to a movement that would bring them hardship, trouble and possibly death?   Beyond the working of the Spirit and miraculous events, people saw things in the Christian community that were attractive to them. The message of salvation resonated with them and the truth of the message was borne out by the changes they could see in the early Christians. It was sa...