The man God called to lead — Abraham: Hebrew patriarch, revered in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The man God called to be the father of His chosen. He grew up in Ur of the Chaldees, the cradle of civilization. The area is known as the Fertile Crescent, stretching north from the Persian Gulf up to the top…

The church in formation — The evening my son graduated from National Guard AIT, the families were sent to a parking lot to wait in the dark. I really didn’t know why we were there, but suddenly there came a sound like none other: the sound of hundreds of boots marching in rhythm. As they…

In disappointment He still holds on — It’s 740 BCE and the Father is watching His children making all kinds of stupid mistakes. (“Didn’t I teach you better than that?”) They are living in the cesspool of their poor choices. (“See, I told you this would happen!”) They are enjoying their brazen rebellion. …

A lesson in prayer — Back and forth, back and forth. The boy was back at the swing. I first noticed him early in summer, there in the neighborhood park. Swinging, swinging. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes later, there he would be, swinging, swinging. Even in cold and wind — the weather didn’t seem to…

A look at the heavenly host — Ancients in the East, men like the magi, were students of the stars, scanning the heavens for signs of earthly events. In Greek and Roman culture, heavenly bodies were seen as divine — the public face of the gods and goddesses working behind the scenes. …

Shocking. Scandalous. True. — If you want to start a catfight, just say the word “patriarchy.” Today, the term often refers to the domination of a father who exercises oppressive and even abusive rule over his family. …

What was wrong with the tower of Babel — One of the most exhausting chapters to read? Genesis 10. One of the most entertaining chapters to hear someone else read? Genesis 10. The earth’s population has just been taken down to eight human beings and an even number of animals. …

On the way to information overload — I love information. I tend to gather it — piles of it, megabytes of it. One day, while sitting in the middle of books and Bibles, with so many Web pages open the tabs measured barely a quarter of an inch, I heard the Spirit say: “What do you love…

Caring for the land — Five covenants God made with man: The first, with Adam. The last, with Jesus Christ. The most reiterated, with Abraham. The most famous (but now defunct), with Moses. The most overlooked, with Noah. Now, chances are you’ve heard of Noah. Young, old, church-going or homebody, Bible-believing, agnostic or atheist, most…