Blog

Open the eyes of my heart to see that You, O God, are the source of all good things and fill me with gratitude for Your kindness.   The heart that sees God sees that we owe everything to Him.  The heart that sees God sees that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights (Jas 1:17).  The heart that sees God is constantly grateful.  It is grateful for simple things like a cup of tea.  It is grateful for weightier things like children, which are a gift from God (Ps 127:3).  It is grateful for…

A walk in the woods with the snow falling. A hot cup of coffee and a chat with a friend. Diving under the blankets when the wind howls. A warm sun. A laughing baby. A hearty bowl of stew. These pleasures are all brought to you by God. Mothers and fathers and children and families. The tulips in April and the fiery hillside in October. The watermelon and the raspberry. Green grass and blue sky. The starfish and the mountain ram. These gifts are all brought to you by God. Laughter. Sight. Rain. Fresh air. A mind. A purpose. These…

Father, grant me a heart that is pure and simple and devoted to you, and I shall be content.   The University of Texas is a sophisticated world.  Professors, thinkers, influencers, media.  Indeed, the University of Texas is quite proud of its sophistication.  But God is not necessarily looking for sophisticated people. God wants a simple heart in His people.   A simple heart trusts God as a child does.  It laughs as a child does.  It rejoices in simple pleasures and is free.  Praise you, God, for the sunrise this morning! A simple heart is content.  It does not require…

Father, may I trust you as a three-year-old would.   No one can experience God unless he has faith.  Faith believes what is unseen, and without faith it is not possible to please God (Heb 11:1, 6).  This is basic.  Faith deals with our beliefs, and since it deals with our beliefs, one may think that it does not belong in a discussion about the heart.  But faith is first and foremost a matter of the heart.  “If you … believe in your heart that God raised [Jesus] from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Faith does have…

Praise you, Father, for you are incomprehensible.  You are God.   God once asked me to start a church.  The church closed.  As I sought God after the church had closed, He gave me a very clear sense that, yes, He really had called me to do that.  In other words, He had called me to fail, or at least it looked that way.  And why not?  God called the King of Kings to die.  If that is how God operates, He is not going to be easy to predict. An agnostic man once told me that he would like…