The Daily Memo

Listen I’m a few days into a Bible Reading Plan on the YouVersion app authored by Sheila Walsh. She remarks in one of the 7 days of the devotional: “Can you imagine a world without guilt, shame, or regret? We know this is too good to be true in the world we live in. But this is exactly what Adam and Eve experienced.” It is hard to imagine, but what a delightful thought it is. Then sin entered the story and we all hid behind our fig leaves. Guilt, shame,…

Listen If you haven’t heard yet I’d suggest tuning in to what God is doing at Asbury University in Kentucky. Here’s the way Jake Taylor put it on NBC News, “A Christian service at a college chapel in Kentucky has ballooned into a nonstop prayer and worship session that some are calling a "revival" — and people are traveling thousands of miles to take part in it after seeing viral videos on TikTok.” “The first day we had a…

Listen So, we bit the fruit . . . then what? We were thrust into a world at war. Paradise was lost. But not forever. Genesis 3:23 describes it: “The Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life”. God is so loving, even in our disobedience, that he…

Listen A recent Gallup poll measured public perceptions of the honesty and ethics of various professions. I was a bit taken aback, not by the profession at the top of the list (Nurses), but one that showed up 6th on the list - Clergy. 34% of those surveyed rated clergy as very high or high in honesty and ethics. 58% ranked clergy as average to very low in the trust category. That’s discouraging but telling. The good news is their ranking is not nearly as low as,…

Listen You don't need to travel far to find beauty. God has strewn beauty across the globe in such generous portions we have only to stop and notice, paying particular attention to the intimate. Yes, epic beauty is worth traveling to see–the Himalaya, the Maasai Mara, Yosemite, any tropic island. But intimate beauty is just as healing, perhaps more so, and available everywhere. (I shared the St. Albans story to remind my urban readers beauty can be found even in,…

Listen ‘Transcendence’ and ‘immanence’ describe the almost paradoxical nature of our relationship with God. The ‘transcendence’ of God means that God exists apart from, and is not subject to the limitations of, the material universe. He is above and beyond, surpassing and excelling, greatly superior to us. On the other hand, the ‘immanence’ of God means that it is possible to experience his immediate friendship. In the Old…

Listen Political polarization has been a national reality for decades. But during 2020, the messy but often productive middle ground all but disappeared. As a result, Americans were pressured to move further right or further left or be left behind. Lines were drawn where lines were deemed unnecessary in the past. Everything became a point of contention. School closings. School openings. Masks. Protests. With the collapse of the middle, nuance left the building. Without,…

Listen These should be our guiding principles in every decision we make. ‘Love and Loyalty’ (Proverbs 3:3) should be deeply embedded in our hearts. Loyalty means, for example, speaking about others as if they were present. We establish trust in those who are present by our loyalty to those who are not present. If you live like this, God promises you a good reputation ‘in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people’ (Verse 4, The Message). Run to God!…

Listen Have you ever felt stuck in your prayer life? Or perhaps wondering why God doesn’t seem to be hearing, or not answering your prayers. You’re not alone. God answers every prayer with a yes, no, or wait. Better yet think of it like this as Rick Warren writes, ‘When the request is not right, God says “No”. When the timing is not right, God says “Slow”. When you are not right, God says “Grow”. But when the request is…