Ask almost any Christian: “How did young David defeat Goliath, the giant warrior?” Probably about 99 times out of 100 you’ll get an answer something like: “Because David had great faith in God.”   Those who answer like this assume, like the Philistines, that David did not have the power or skill to win a…

APPROACHING HORSES and there past the barn I see the horses, grazing out in a field, together, but also alone. I see the horses standing in the sunlit fog. I pause to acknowledge their dignity. they stand waiting to serve me, neither domesticated nor wild. they bow their heads to graze, content with whatever grass…

I like the idea of our choices being like sips. We nibble ourselves to death in slow-motion suicides. We build mountains on our own backs made up of tiny, seemingly insignificant grains of sand. “It’s no big deal,” we say, and add another grain. We struggle to conceptualize the consequences of such small choices. I…

The problem with all these THIS-IS-THE-FIRST-DAY-OF-THE-REST-OF-YOUR-LIFE folks is that they emphasize the wrong thing. Their intention (noble and pure) is to get you to realize how special THIS day is, to get you all in a frenzy about THIS day. They want to tap into that part of you that hungers to do great things.…

You wanna know the secret of how I kept my hundreds so crisp and flat? I’d take 5 or 6 bills and place them in the middle of a Bible commentary, then stack those commentaries on the floor, Romans on top of Matthew, on top of John, on top of Exodus, and so forth. After…

The humming noise seems to originate from behind a set of steel, gray double-doors. A sign on each door says AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY: DO NOT ENTER. But they left the door unlocked and, after a quick scan of the room—for surveillance systems or supervising eyes—I press the release bar and open the door. No alarm…

In 2008, if you wanted to get to Machu Picchu, you had to take a long, blue train that rolled slowly through Peru’s jungle and mountains. The train stopped several times along the way so riders could refresh, and maybe shop, at little shanty markets, with buildings made of concrete blocks, plywood, and thatch roofs.…

I carry something precious deep inside me but I cannot access it. I possess an absolute treasure-trove that sparkles and glows somewhere just out of reach. I think you possess it, too. You have the same rich history of hilarious moments, of riotous, watery-eyed laughter. I’ve laughed so hard in my life, and the euphoria…

Somewhere in my early teens I wanted to levitate. The thought of defying gravity struck me as an obvious life skill only a fool would neglect. I went to the library and secured the appropriate book: Yoga & Meditation for Beginners. I remember a man on the cover sitting in a yoga pose with his…

Jesus kicks off Matthew 7 with a firm warning about the dangers of judgement, then follows this up by mocking those who judge the speck of dust in the eyes of others. On its own, I consider this teaching against judgement challenging, but also compelling and thoroughly coherent. If the teaching ended with verse 5,…