September 2024

Frederick Buechner, theologian and author, once said that “grace” reminds us that God speaks: “Here is your life. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen, but don’t be afraid. I am with you through it all. Everything in creation is meant for you – there’s just one ‘catch’: as with any gift, the gift of grace and joy is yours when you open your heart to receive it.” It’s easy to accept […]

During our flower trip, we passed an orange farm where tractors were pulling long trains filled with fruit. In the orchards, pickers were working tirelessly. Pick the fruit! Seize the day! Carpe Diem! Easier said than done! Our lives are far from one breathtaking adventure. For some people, their days are spent in lonely or monotonous, long hours; and tomorrow it repeats again. What is there to grab with both hands?! Horace, the Roman poet

I usually try to write meditations in advance. This meditation (#4) I’m writing on a spring day. On the high Cape mountain peaks, snow layers are still thick. Regardless of what the thermometer says today, I know: spring is here. How so? Yesterday I drove around Nieuwoudtville and saw flowers in abundance. Plates and plates of them. A day or so earlier, the flowers of the Biedouw Valley were on the menu. An excess of

One of Martin Luther’s good friends, the theology professor Philip Melanchthon, had the habit of keeping a daily record of every missed opportunity to preach the gospel. In the evenings, he would confess each of these moments to God, pleading that God would grant him one more day of life. Along with this, he also asked that God would make him a reliable witness. (We use the term “mindfulness” so casually, but to me, this

No one could imagine the view unless they were right here, right now, in this place. I (we) are sitting among yellow, purple, orange, white, and blue spring flowers; 360 degrees surrounded by the greatest beauty I have ever seen. Namaqualand. Yet, at this moment, none of us are noticing the beauty. We have problems. Big problems. The bus we’re in is stuck knee-deep in mud. The sun is setting, and the flowers are starting

Nature, which had nearly come to a standstill during winter, now bursts forth around us in full glory. Spring has arrived! This season of renewal serves as a powerful metaphor for the Christian life. The fearlessness with which buds and bulbs announce themselves to the world—regardless of any cold fronts still to come—reminds us of the radical transformation the Holy Spirit brought about in the first believers. Remember: Peter, who once said, “I don’t know