Blog

Luke 22:44 Being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. As I finished my workout yesterday, I noticed that both of my shins were bleeding.  Though they looked dramatic, they were just painless abrasions, so I wiped them off and moved on. …
Read more

Luke 22:40  Pray that you may not enter into temptation. I once told someone that I went to a Christian drug treatment program to which she sarcastically replied, Is that where they teach you all you need to do is pray?  The implication was that Christians deny the reality of addiction and ignorantly rely on the…
Read more

Luke 22:19 And he took bread… and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” I am what I eat and frankly, I eat too much junk.  It is not that I do not know what I am supposed to eat.  I just…
Read more

Luke 21:34 But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life… I did not set out twenty years ago to become an addict.  I had no intention of abusing my power and privilege as a physician to obtain those pills.  If you had asked me ten years…
Read more

Luke 21:3,4 I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. I have always considered myself to be somewhat generous with money.  My wife and I grew up…
Read more

Luke 18:22,23 “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor… and come, follow me.”  But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. I sometimes think that all those with wealth are evil.  The cutoff for how much money makes one evil is above me, of course.  I…
Read more

Luke 18:11-13 The Pharisee prayed… “God, I thank you that I am not like other men… like this tax collector.”… But the tax collector beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I love the tax collector’s prayer.  It was the honest prayer of a humble man who knew exactly what he…
Read more

Luke 17:21 Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. I doubt that I was ever taught this, but as a child, I understood that the Christian life meant choosing misery here on Earth so that I would be happy in the afterlife.  My cross to bear, was surrendering happiness and joy…
Read more

Luke 17:15-17 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God… giving him thanks…  Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Some days, my arrogance has arrogance.  The other day, as I was in line at the gas station, the patron ahead of me bought a…
Read more

Luke 17:14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. In the height of my addiction, I hated what I was doing and I hated who I was.  I daily begged God to take my addiction from me and I was…
Read more