In Mathew twenty-two, Jesus responded to a question of what is the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He declared the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.’ He then concluded, all the Law and the Prophets hang…
The goal of contemplative prayer is to help us detach from the thoughts that fill our minds. And particularly the ones in conflict with the will of God in our life. Our brains are overwhelmed with fears about the future and daily worries for family and friends. Contemplative prayer is the practice and discipline of…
The mystic in prayer contemplates their entire soul and being is in union with God, and everything else that exists. In their heart, they experience oneness and unity with God and creation. That oneness is the awareness they are absolutely whole in the presence of Christ and love of God alone. Once having tasted of…
On August 10, 1974, a Marine Corps captain was inspecting the platoon I was serving during my second summer of Officer Candidate School in Quantico. I remember standing at attention next to Candidate Burgess from Virginia. The captain asked Candidate Burgess who is the commander and chief of the United States of America. He replied…
Silence, for many, is an undiscovered friend of the tired and restless. It is a sacred place of solitude, bringing peace and comfort from the cares of the world. Its calming effect soothes our souls and produces eternal hope for living. It is the voice that has no description, but it abides within and speaks…
God’s love seeks to reconcile and restore us to the indescribable beauty of the kingdom of God. Jesus revealed the glory of God to the apostle Paul, and he realized Christ is alive here and now living within us. Paul’s conversion was an incredible change where his heart was no longer obsessed with the things…
Everything we see and most everything we do in life revolves around dreams of making money and having a safe and secure place to live. Security and safety, however, are only an illusion for nothing is permanent here on earth. In the twinkling of an eye, all the money in the world can vanish…
The apostle John testifies Jesus, who died and raised from the dead, is God in the flesh. I have seen the Son of God and walked and talked with him in real-time. The bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Near the end of his…
Our minds are always dealing with thoughts, causing panic and anxiety. We are overwhelmed with thoughts of darkness and death, causing deep fear for our survival. Our thoughts and feelings rob us of any hope for living life. We wonder is there any way out of the palpable despair we feel in our soul. Yes,…
In the violent history of humanity and current-day terrorism, humanity ponders the ongoing question: where is God? In World War Two, six million Jewish people perished at over a thousand concentration camps. Dachau, Buchenwald, and Treblinka were the more well-known locations where eight hundred and fifty thousand souls died. However, the most notorious was Auschwitz,…
What I enjoy most, being a pastor is the honor given me to listen to the stories of everyday people. I hear the secrets and struggles that not even family members may have heard. I let each one know how deeply touched I am that they would entrust me with their deepest thoughts. So I…
In the gospel of John, Jesus asks an age-old question to a disabled man, “Do you want to get well?” The harsh reality is many people have lost hope of making any lasting changes in their life to get well. The reason is change, and sustainable transformation in our life is a challenging and painful…