Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. — Matthew 4:22. The abruptness of this verse is stunning. Today, we read headlines about high-profile figures—whether coaches, CEOs, or executives—making career transitions. These moves are often preceded by months of negotiation, lucrative contracts, and carefully planned press conferences. The sheer financial magnitude involved…
Advent
Advent is meant to be a deliberate, hushed space in the calendar—a season of deep spiritual preparation, quiet anticipation, and reflection on Christ’s coming into the world. Yet, the moment Thanksgiving concludes, the media blitzkrieg begins. We are immediately barraged by a feverish commercial insistence that Advent is merely a four-week sprint toward maximum consumption:…
The Thing Not Done
Suzy, as she so often is, was right. Claire Keegan’s “Small Things Like These” is a stunningly concise work, concluding with a quote that has stayed with me for days: The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the…
Tyrants and Servants
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be a servant.” — Matthew 20:25-26. Today’s verse presents a radical, counter-cultural mandate that flips the understanding of authority on…
Rejection
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. — 1 Peter 2:4. Peter’s reference to Christ as a stone is similar to when Jesus asks, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’” (Matthew 21:42.) Many of Jesus’…