Sitting in front of the perfect stone, the sculptor begins his work, taking the image that is in his mind and slowly, with carefully calculated taps more than giant blows, what he sees in his mind becomes reality. Every person has an image of God. The image is either shaped by our life experiences — both good and bad — or we conform our image of God to that which God,…

Part two of the journey was about to begin. Part one had lasted 30 earth years—a period of relative obscurity, during which Jesus lived and experienced life with all it’s struggles just like every other human. But when the day came for Jesus to be baptized by his cousin John, he knew his journey was about to transition from obscurity to radical visibility. There would be…

The T.V. was on and the sound of the William Tell Overture was playing. I had dozed for a minute on our old couch, but was immediately wide awake…the next episode of the Lone Ranger was starting. I was 9 years old and the flu had given me what every little boy longs for: A day off from school. In this episode of the Lone Ranger, I remember the sheriff had formed a…

The freedom we have in Jesus is one of my favorite topics. But, if you read Jesus’ own words, you’ll often find him qualifying his promises with phrases like, “If you obey my commands…” or “If you follow me…” These phrases sound conditional; they sound like I get blessed if I’m good, but I might get kicked out if I’m bad or something. What’s up with that? When Jesus uses…