I want to begin by reading John 1:1–5 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message : “The Word was first, the Word present to God,God present to the Word.The Word was God,in readiness for God from day one.Everything was created through him; nothing not one thing came into being without him.What came into existence was life, and the life was light to live by.The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” That’s good, isn’t it? Now I want to read the same p

Our friendship has always felt a little like hunting dogs in the woods—sniffing, circling, searching. We never follow a straight path. We meander, catch the scent of something real, and chase it until it disappears into mystery. It reminds me of when I was a boy, running hounds through the bottoms after dark. I must have been fourteen, maybe a little older. I had a redbone coonhound named Rock. Sixty-five pounds of red muscle and heart, with a white chest and eyes that seemed

John’s vision of the great white throne has long been read as a scene of terror and finality—where all humanity stands before a distant Judge. But when we look again through the lens of Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, another light shines through. What John saw was not the end of grace, but the final unveiling of grace —the moment when all illusion, all separation, all darkness is swallowed up by the uncreated fire of divine love. The Face Before Whom He

Hebrews 9:27 is one of those verses often quoted to inspire fear: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” For many, it’s taken as a warning — that after death comes a courtroom scene where your eternal destiny hangs in the balance. But when we read this verse in its actual context, it becomes something entirely different. The writer of Hebrews isn’t trying to scare us. He’s making a comparison. Just as human beings die once, so Christ was offered

The Father has entrusted all humanity to the Son, and out of His very being, the Son pours the life of the age into all. Because all died with Christ, all were raised with Him, and all are made new in Him—it is finished. The incarnation was the ultimate expression of this divine exchange: God became flesh so that eternal life might flow freely into humanity. The old self, limited and self-contained, has passed away; in its place stands the new creation, alive in union with Ch

I've been reading this book called – The Spirit Gives Life: How I Learned to Meditate . It’s really more of a biography, and I’m finding it both interesting and powerful. The author, Malcolm Smith, is in his 80s now, and he starts the story from when he was almost two years old—during WWII, bombs dropping, being rushed from his crib to hide in a closet. My first thought was how could a child remember that? But , I suppose, trauma like that makes an impression. From there, the

Ephesians 1:10 — Christ and the Whole Cosmos NET: “to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah.” Take a moment to imagine this: all of creation — heaven, earth, every star, every life, every hidden corner — being gathered, summed up, and restored in Christ. This is not just spiritual language; it is cosmic. The Greek word κατακλῆσαι conveys a profound reality: Christ recapitulates everything , retracing, reclaiming, and uniting the universe under Himself. Your life, your joys

Ephesians 1:10 — Christ, the Sum of All Things NASB: “to sum up all things in Him, things in the heavens and things on the earth.”KJV: “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.” Pause for a moment and let this sink in: Christ is not just the Savior of souls, but the center of all creation. Every atom in the heavens, every moment on earth, every story of humanity — all find their meaning and purpose in Him. The Gre

When we speak of Jesus Christ as the Mediator of creation , we must begin with a truth too often forgotten: God is not a solitary being , but communion —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The life of God is not static or distant, but a living dance of love and mutual indwelling. The early church called this movement perichōrēsis —a Greek word that evokes a holy choreography, each Person dwelling in the other without confusion, each pouring love into the other without measure. Crea

Sometimes life feels like a battlefield we were never prepared for. We wrestle with shame, fear, and the weight of our mistakes. We feel abandoned, overlooked, or even trapped in the consequences of choices and circumstances that seem beyond repair. And yet, even in our helplessness, God is there—not as a condemner, but as a rescuer. “Then I passed by, and I saw you there squirming in your blood. And as you lay there covered with blood, I spoke over you: ‘Live!’” TPT Ezekiel

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