strongholds
-
The Fish in Your Dark Subconscious Sea
Large bodies of water are heavy with mystery. Under the surface live strange creatures, both comic and terrifying. Movies show monsters, though more common are the schools of shimmering fish that fill dinner plates. But the sea is often a metaphor for our own minds, our will, and emotions battling under the surface of our societal mask. So when Jesus tells His disciples to cast their nets on the right side of their boat, He is speaking a metaphor into their lives. Often we default to the line about Jesus making his disciples fishers of men, but this is not the only context in which Jesus speaks of fishing. In…
-
A Miracle of Healing: Belief not Required
I do not watch a lot of television. My parents got rid of theirs when I was in the fourth grade, and it forever weaned me from passive entertainment. I became a reader instead. So it was with some desperation that I found myself watching, of all things, the 700 Club on CBN past midnight nearly thirty years ago in the living room of my apartment on the campus of the university I was attending. The host spoke of a healing miracle. Nearly six months previous I had been in a fairly severe car accident. While I was stopped at a red light, I was rear-ended by a car going…
-
Promises You Should Definitely Break
I believe that it is a common phenomenon among parents that if they seem to agree to something, a child will take that as a definite promise. That child will then move heaven and earth in order to hold his or her parent’s feet to the fire regarding the so-called promises. But promises are a serious matter, of more weight than a child’s willfulness. Promises are sacred, after all, which is why we make them publicly very infrequently. Making promises to oneself seems like a good thing. After all, each of us fights the battle of daily discipline. And on the occasion that we fail to live up to our…
