The Martian and lifegiving hope

Imagine you're an astronaut, part of a team sent to explore Mars. Then imagine what you would do if by a weird and terrible set of circumstances, your team abandoned you and left you alone on the red planet.That's the premise of Andy Weir's engaging science fiction novel, The Martian, which has ... Continue reading

Training for endurance

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing ... Continue reading

Winter and the presence of God

A gray ooze has devoured the horizon and wrapped the sky in a damp, claustrophobic dreariness. The sun has been swallowed up; beneath a tinplate damp life shivers, slapping arms and stamping feet to stay warm. A monochromatic twilight robs the desert of its color, while an icy wind rips the last few ... Continue reading

Delight

In conclusion, my children, take delight in your heavenly Father. —Philippians 3:1, paraphrase (the Apostle Paul writing) I once had a girlfriend who loved to go to the park and swing on the swings. As a sophisticated young college student, I always felt a little foolish doing this.But young ... Continue reading

Finding respite

[W]hatever else the computer age has given us—and it is often compelling, powerful and productive—it is not pleasant. It is unprecedentedly fast, even frantic; it is relentless. The price of digitilization's information and fun is frustration; it always needs to be rebooted or relearned. ... Continue reading

When vineyards die

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my ... Continue reading

Disappointment with God

According to Philip Yancey, there are three questions that Christians are afraid to ask, because they take us down a dark pathway into a gloomy forest of doubt, and once there, we wonder if we will ever manage to find our way out again alive.Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? Such ... Continue reading