How can we set healthy boundaries, replace destructive habits, and undo damage that’s been done to our spirits? How can our lives come to be characterized by compassion, mercy, justice, and love when these feelings and traits are often buried deep under emotional pain and...
“God killed my mother!” Those are the words I spoke when my mom passed away, just three months after Yeshua claimed my heart on February 21, 1984—the date I asked our Jewish King to “save me.” I thought this was the beginning of the rest of my life. It was all great and glorious, and...
Parashah VaYakhal (“And he assembled”) “Va’yakhal Moshe et-col-adat bnei Yisrael v’yomer aleihem eileh had’varim asher-tsivah ADONAI la’asot otam.” “And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, These are the words that ADONAI has commanded you to do.” (Exodus 35:1) John J....
Springtime—and fresh air. Sunshine is bright after gray winter skies evaporate into warm clarity. Deer dash across fairways having peeked from nearby forests. Children laugh on playgrounds once more. Sprouts abound, and birds chirp merrily with songs of anticipation. Everything is new. In Matthew 9:17 Jesus said...
One of the great blessings of being part of The Bethany Fellowship is our ongoing desire to connect authentically to “the faith OF Jesus” as part of our personal continuation of discipleship. An aspect of that reconnection is uncovering the latent meaning in idiomatic speech...
Tu B’Shvat is a time of expectation. Seeds unseen in the ground are gestating and about to break forth into the sunlight of growth toward maturation and fruitfulness. It is along the line of this cycle that I wish to focus your attention—in an unusual...
The phone rang early breaking the silence with it’s piercing sound. The voice on the other end was young, pleasant and very proud of what she was about to say. “Do you need a copy machine?” I could hear her smile. “Why yes I do”. I was...
Resurrection Sunday morning, the sun was anticipating its rise. Sydney was just entering the winter season, and the air was crisp with autumn coolness. The streets were darkened and my excitement vivid. I had begun my journey to the other side of the earth forty-eight...
It’s beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving and Christmas … the time of year when family members from near and far away gather, those we can’t wait to see…and others we wish we didn’t have to see. There, I said it. You know the...
John 10:22, “Now it was the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (NKJV) Jesus had the people of Judea in a state of frenzy as they tried to reconcile his mighty works against their perceptions of Jesus as a blasphemer. After they took...