Avoid Deception

Now that I'm on the subject of 20, I remember a lesson: Don't believe deceptions. My biggest regrets trace back to the times I believed deceptions. Or even when I didn't believe deceptions, but didn't know how to avoid them. The Book of Revelation, interestingly, has something to say about deceptions. The Beast out of…

to know God

Reading 1 John, I found this passage irritating: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." That day, someone was visiting that I didn't want to see. Not her, I thought. I don't have to love her, do I? And…

to have a story

Reading poetry, it never fails to amaze me that a simple thing like raindrops or parachutes or a strand of hair can be transformed in a page of words. Simplicity becomes sublime. It reminds me too, of a passage I saw in Revelations: "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun,…

who will you die for?

Revelation helps us remember that everyone dies. The question is, for whom will you die? Reading Revelation is like watching a back and forth -- a war between two armies. In the first half, creatures are unleashed on nonbelievers: "They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And…

thoughts on death

I think death is something we don't think about enough. Either we obsess over it, or forget it; I find neither to be right. But one thing that gives me hope is reading about Paul's perspective on death in 1 Corinthians 15 (selected passages): What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.…