“Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him.” (Mark 3:13, CSB) What is it about a mountain that pulls people to reach its summit? The difficulty of the ascent doesn’t matter; they feel a compulsion to reach where others dare not tread. Mount Everest, considered the world’s tallest summit, has had a “traffic jam” at times as unprecedented numbers of climbers waited in line for their turn to reach its peak. Can you imagine enduring over 29,000 feet of treacherous climbing, not to mention rigorous training and great expense, just to wait in line? Perhaps all of us seek a mountaintop experience of one type or another in life. Although the climb can be arduous, lifechanging things may happen on the mountain. In fact, if the path were less difficult, the experience would hold less meaning. The struggles only increase the exhilaration of finally reaching the top. Being summoned to meet God on the mountain surpasses all other life experiences. There God reveals Himself to us and allows us to see our world from a higher perspective. Some of the most notable events in the Bible took place on a mountain. On Mount…

The day after Christmas, I enthusiastically challenged my nine-year-old grandson to a game of bowling. The standup video kind. We were having a blast—he was winning—until something caused me to lose my footing, and I went down. I apparently tried to break my fall with my arm, but instead I broke my arm with my fall. Badly. When my fractured forearm was examined, I learned a new word: comminuted. A comminuted fracture is when the bone breaks into several pieces and needs more than simple resetting. In my surgery, for example, they had to reconstruct the shattered bones with grafts, plates and screws before they could realign them. But that was only the beginning. The doctor then had to splint my arm—to force the bones to stay in their proper position without moving so they could heal back together properly. That’s where I am at this writing—and it’s got me thinking. All that even the best doctor can do is REALIGN the bone fragments. The important work of healing kicked in when I submitted to an external stabilizer—a SPLINT—to hold the reassembled bones in place. No wiggle room. The process then requires sufficient TIME while God does the work that…

The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (John 11:44-46, ESV) Many times, eyewitnesses to the same event will each “see” the event differently. I suppose it’s a combination of one’s perspective, attentiveness, or even bias that may affect our perception of what happened. In the story of Lazarus in John 11, it wasn’t so much what each one saw, as how they reacted to what they saw. The story is familiar to most of us. Lazarus of Bethany became very ill, and his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for their friend Jesus. They knew He had performed many miracles and had the power to heal their brother. But Lazarus did not improve, and Jesus did not arrive—at least not in the timely manner they expected. Since we have read the complete story in the Gospel of John, we understand why Jesus…

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14, ESV)  We are now into the second month of the new year. By this time each year, about eighty percent have fallen behind on their resolutions and slipped back into old habits. For the Christian, the resolve to read more, pray more, and spend more time with God may have already gotten crowded out with the busyness of life in the 21st century. Whether setting goals for spiritual, physical, financial, or professional growth, the one word that comes to my mind is determination. Whatever we desire to accomplish requires us to consistently, steadily push forward. Even when our progress may be slower than we had hoped, keep moving forward. The truth is, things beyond our control—illnesses, family emergencies, or other schedule wreckers—will interrupt even the best of our intentions. But that doesn’t mean we should throw up our hands and just give up. Remember the old fable of the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise won the race not because he was so speedy but because he just kept plodding along. Not fast but steady. If you are discouraged because…