Delightsome Land

We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. —  Hebrews 4:15-16 Here is my prayer for you:  May you catch even the slightest glimpse of the tender mercy of our Lord Jesus. For one drop of the Lord’s mercy is better than an ocean of the world’s comfort. The situation that seems impossible. The finances that never balance. The hope so deferred it makes your heart sick. The anxiety over a child bent on a wayward path. The diet you are sick of. The broken promises of a friend. The lack of true friends. The constant messiness always distracting from the peace you want in your home. The impatience and frustration, anger and disappointment of losing it — again. If only we knew how deeply Jesus understands and cares for us. If on...

When I was growing up, there was always a next big thing. As a poor kid raised in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, I usually got the next big thing long after it had already peaked. By the time I got my first hand-me-down bicycle, skateboards were in. Couple years later when I finally got a skateboard, video games were all my friends talked about. On and on, from cassette players to car stereos, video cameras to VCRs, pet rocks to iPods, polo shirts to designer purses — there was always something that all the cool kids had while the rest of us lagged behind. Without money to waste, because a box of Cap’n Crunch was a luxury in my neighborhood, I realized early on that there would always be a next big thing. It’s how advertisers, and all the product producers behind them, stay in business. Their job is to make people feel even more inadequate, insecure, uncertain, and needy than we do already. They focus our attention on what we don’t have rather than what we do. More importantly, I also reali...