The novelist Walker Percy once observed, “To live in the past and future is easy.  To live in the present is like threading a needle.”  Think about that statement for a moment.  We might think that living with the pain and regret of  the past or the uncertainty and fear of the future is our greatest…

Thomas Merton warns us when he states, “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with reality.”  I have found that facing the reality of my sinful nature has been the most difficult part of the spiritual…

Today I preached on the gospel lesson for this Sunday.  The text was from Matthew 16:13-20.  Again I was struck with an application for men as they follow Jesus.  In the text Peter makes his confession of who Jesus is by saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (v 16).  This…

In the mid 80’s, I began to read Thomas Keating’s books on centering prayer.  They became foundational in my journey with the Lord. One quote from Keating on the silence of God stuck with me, yet for some time just did not make sense to me.  In these last years, however, it has become more…

This morning I preached on the gospel text from Matt. 14:22-31.   In this storyJesus  has his disciples get in a boat to go across to the other side of the sea of Galilee, while He goes up on a mountainside by himself to pray.  John tells us that “they had rowed about three or four miles.” …

I have started a new book entitled “Veneer’ with a subtitle “living deeply in a surface society.”  There is a quote from Jon Foreman of the music group “Switchfoot” that I would like to quote, because it expresses a lot of the sentiments of this blog site.  “There is a deeper portion of our being…

For those who read this blog, you are aware that I owe a great deal to David Benner, for being a spiritual guide, during these latter years of my journey.  Each of his new books are been food for my soul, and enlightenment to my mind.  I highly recommend his insights to you.  In the early…

As I mentioned in my last post, I am busy during these weeks with family visiting Judy and I on the lake.  The time I need to reflect on a post and then do the writing takes time.  I simply will not have much reflective time to write a post.  For me it takes time.  I do…

This is an extended quote from Gerhart Tersteegen, whom I have quoted before.  I first read his small book “The Quiet Way” so twenty years ago.  At that time his words spoke to my heart, but now I find that I can more readilyassimiliate his thoughts into my spiritual life.  I am sending along this quote because…

Parker Palmer has argued that it is important to listen to our life rather than living on the surface of life, never paying attention to the inconsistencies between our inner life and outer life.  Instead of determining the shape of our spiritual journey, we need to pay attention to all of the factors that are influencing the way we choose to respond to…