We’re all familiar with the song “Jacob’s Ladder”. In Chapter 1 of God is Closer Than You Think, author John Ortberg states that the song gets the story wrong. The ladder isn’t for human beings to climb up, it’s for God to come down. God still is in the business of coming down to earth. […]
“Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”- Joshua 1:9 In Chapter 1 of God is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg states that the most frequent promise in the Bible is “I will be with you.” God is determined to be our […]
When author John Ortberg (God is Closer Than You Think) and his wife Nancy traveled around Europe during the first year of their marriage, one of the highlights was viewing Michelangelo’s painting The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In that painting God is rushing to Adam on a cloud, propelled […]
One Thousand Gifts (Zondervan, 2010) Ann Voskamp’s contemplative and thought-provoking book One Thousand Gifts chronicles her e-mail challenge from a friend to write a list of 1,000 things she loved, a quest which would enable her to view the totality of her life through the gaze of her seeing inner soul’s eyes upon a saving […]
It’s a spring day on the farm in Ontario. White apple blossoms fill the orchard, and dusty footprints track mud across the kitchen floor. As Ann Voskamp notes in the Afterword of One Thousand Gifts, “every breath’s a battle between grudgery and gratitude.” That’s why we must continually keep thanks on our lips. Ann listens […]
As author Ann Voskamp (One Thousand Gifts) walks into the Cathedral of Notre Dame, she thinks of 3 steps the ancients (Christians) believed led to entering into intimacy with God: 1. Purgation is an awakening to the chasm separating us from God and praying for God’s help to purge our souls of self-will. This is […]
Once upon a time, long before global warming was a twinkle in Mother Nature’s eye, snow fell abundantly in Evergreen Park, IL. Utilizing the protection of snow forts constructed approximately 40 feet apart on our neighboring front lawns, my friend Cliff and I engaged in the Great Snowball Wars of the early 1960s. With our […]
Ann Voskamp begins Chapter 11 (“The Joy of Intimacy”) of One Thousand Gifts with this quote from C. S. Lewis that establishes the theme for this final chapter: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” The author discusses […]
Author Ann Voskamp opens the concluding section of Chapter 10 of One Thousand Gifts with the following poem: “Christian hands never clasp and He doesn’t give gifts for gain because a gift can never stop being a gift- it is always meant to be given.” Reflecting on the astonishing truth that while we serve Christ He […]
In Chapter 10 (“Empty to Fill”) of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp continues her discussion of grace. As we take every opportunity to let the fullness of grace flow, we don’t just take God’s blessings- we become the blessing! That is, after all, what will determine whether our lives are fulfilling and meaningful. Ann […]
At the beginning of Chapter 10 (“Empty to Fill”) of One Thousand Gifts, author Ann Voskamp recalls the time she read to her children how the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea, yet nothing flows out. Thus the salt water content rises and everything dies. Similarly, if we dam up the living waters of […]
Ann Voskamp offers her perspective on putting theory into practice in Chapter 9 of One Thousand Gifts: “. . . theories and theology stillbirth unless they can take on some skin, breathe in the polluted air of this world, and make it happen.” Transcendent fullness of joy will take us from theoretical exploration to living full. […]