DEEP // WIDE // LIGHT

I shared the following words at the memorial service for Angela Michelle Wilson , at Oak Forest Baptist Church, in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 6, 2016.  Today is a celebration. Do you remember how easily Angela celebrated? Her smile? How easily she could love people? Do you know why? Angela would want you to know why she smiled so often! At the family’s request, I want to share with all of you why she smiled so much… why she loved so easily. As I tell you why, I want you to notice two stories happening at the same time: God’s story of his son Jesus, and God’s story of his daughter Angela. PART 1 – CREATION These stories start in the beginning. As in, the very beginning. The beginning of the Bible describes how our world came into existence. It says, “In the beginning, Godcreated the heavens and the earth.” Some of the things we all love – sunsets, a summer rain, loving animals, majestic mountains, the sound of waves on the beach – God made ...

"Though he (God) slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face."                                                          -Job (from Job 13:15) If you have been a believer in Christ very long, you have been there -- that place of pain. It is perhaps most difficult to love God in that moment. You often wonder if he still loves you at all. After all, if he loved you, would he not take that pain away? As bad as your pain is, Job almost certainly had greater pain than yours. All of his belongings were taken from him. He went from rich to poor in an instant. All of his 10 children died. He went from a large family to a small one in an instant. Incredibly painful sores broke out all over his body. He went from healthy to painfully sick in an instant. All of this pain seemed to pour upon him so very quickly. He sat in anguish...

My life? It is no book. My life is but a sentence. And only one, at that. The massive tome of God’s Story Will tell of some who were present During climactic actions and dramatic pauses… But you? And I? One sentence. How will it read? What is the grand narrative? My sentence began With a joyous capital letter. May it end with not the uncertainty of a question, Nor the finality of a period, But with the jubilation of an exclamation!

“It hurts, God. Please make it stop.”   Have you said those words? I know I have. If you have been thinking through theological matters for very long at all, you have probably considered the metaphor that God is chiseling away at you, an ordinary stone, until you become the work of art he sees in you. We tend not to like this metaphor. Being chiseled is an act of pain, and we do NOT like pain!  I came across a poem in the devotional book StreamsIn The Desert, on the day of September 1 . This poem is a request to God for him to not stop chiseling, but to finish his work.  In the still air the music lies unheard; In the rough marble beauty hides unseen; To make the music and the beauty needs The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen. Great Master, touch us with Your skillful hands; Let not the music that is in us die! Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let,  Hidden and lost, Your form within us lie! I want to have sufficient fai...

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent.”  Whew! That felt good to get off my chest. Our children and students mean the world to us. As we parent them, their entire future feels at stake. It feels like life or death sometimes, does it not? I have good news for you.  You will NOT do it right.  I know, I know… you are wondering how this is good news. But the Bible gives us almost no examples of perfect parents (I am not convinced that Mary and Joseph count, either!). Adam and Eve, after having the distinction of being the first on earth to disobey God, raised a son who would murder his brother. Isaac’s son, Jacob, swindled his brother for the inheritance and fooled dad into giving him the family blessing. This same Jacob would love one of his sons more than the others, leading to jealousy and the sale of his son into slavery. King David’s sin led to the death of one of his children. King Solomon’s family fell apart completely, leading to the divi...

(This talk was delivered to a children's art show audience on July 22, 2013. The children were instructed to put up their hands to form binoculars around their eyes every time I said, "look.") LOOK! “In thebeginning God created…” And so the best-selling book of all time begins. Out of nothingness, God speaks, and things begin. First, He created light and darkness. Second, He created sky and earth. Third, He created dry land between seas and plants and trees, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Fourth, He created sun and moon and stars, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Fifth, He created fish of all shapes in the oceans and birds of all colors in the sky, and he looked . He saw that it was good. Sixth, He created animals of shapes and sizes and noises, and he looked . He saw that it was good. He also said, “Let’s make people of all shapes and sizes and noises.” So He “created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself...