Each morning, we are offered the chance to rise up and worship the Creator. He is so vast and glorious, and yet he is concerned today with the smallest details of our lives. Nothing is beyond the reach of the Artist’s paintbrush. Woven into the entire fabric of divine revelation are tantalizing glimpses of
WHEN I WAS AN 8TH GRADER, OUR SCHOOL’S DRAMA TEACHER suggested that I try out for the school play. I signed up and was given a part. My role was to carry a ladder onto the stage, climb to the top, and pretend to change a light bulb. From atop that ladder I was to speak two lines.
WEEKS BEFORE THE PLAY, my imagination began to conjure up disastrous scenarios.
IN JUNE 1944, WHILE WAITING TO BE EXECUTED in a Nazi prison cell, Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote some of the most soul searching poetry I’ve encountered. The marching boots of certain death approached with each tick of the clock. In this condition of unimaginable anxiety, his words plunged with unmasked veracity into the freedom of truth. In one poem called Who Am I? he wrote the following lines:
WHAT COMES AROUND goes around. Has it already been nine years since my friend Timo shared with me his dream of launching a youth soccer league? His passion for youth soccer “had me at hello.” Indonesians live with a love for the game, but a decade ago there was no grassroots movement to foster the talents of
In my town there lives a king who is building a castle.
Seriously.
We usually think of castles as ancient European fortresses but this one is newly being built from scratch in the hills of Malang, Indonesia. The rocks for the walls and ramparts are being brought in from a quarry out of a volcano about an hour away….
Rembrandt is considered by some to be the greatest of all artists in the history of western civilization. Any way we look at him, he is a timeless giant in the arenas of creative expression. Rembrandt was a master of painting light and blending color. As one looks at a Rembrandt, it is easy to marvel at his talent. Yet we must look behind his paintings, beyond the museum walls into his life. First, Rembrandt and his wife, Saskia, experienced the excruciating death of
I ENJOY WORKING WITH PAINTS, mixing colors, experimenting with the effect they make on the canvas. In the past, I worked with acrylics and water colors. Now, finally, I’m beginning to experiment with oils. Oils are more difficult, but they offer so much more potential. One difficulty with oils is that they take so long to dry. Recently, my daughter Katie picked up one of my paintings. She felt horrible when she realized that her fingers had smudged up the paint. I told her not to worry about it. After all,
My doorbell rang this morning at 4 AM. I was expecting out-of-town guests to show up at 6AM, and I figured it was them coming early, way too early. I jumped up in my bed-headed and confused state and greeted the three visitors waiting patiently at my gate.
They had just traveled all night in a chartered minivan from the resort island of Bali, which is one island over and 10 hours away from Java, where I live. They came this week to learn from our team on how to start an outsourcing business, something we did three years ago in Java. All three of them have a heart to see people lifted out of drug addiction and the sex trade industry of Bali, and they know that people who escape that degradation need a steady job to stay free. Prostitutes simply don’t have a lot of other job options, even if they somehow able to pay off their debts. They need gainful employment for the long haul. My three new friends are determined to give people like that new opportunities.
Welcome to the world of Social Entrepreneurship.
Spirit of God come and breathe in me. Flow into this tired soul. Awaken light into my eyes. Fill me with your dreams and visions. Unleash my faith. Awaken my imagination. Strengthen my hands. Quicken my feet. Set my joy free. Set my heart on fire. Blaze a trail of hope into every place you …