ODB: Once Upon A Time
Some people say that the Bible is just a collection of fairy tales. A boy slaying a giant. A man swallowed by a big fish. Noah’s boat-building experience. Even some religious people think that these events are just nice stories with a good moral.Jesus Himself, however, spoke of Jonah and the giant fish, and Noah and the flood, as actual events: “As the days of Noah were, so also will the comin
ODJ: learning from each other
Our young daughter Katelyn enjoys playing the card game solitaire, but she lacks the patience to persist through the difficult points in the game. Instead of trying to solve being ‘stuck’, she’ll simply start a new game. I’ve challenged her not to give up but to seek the next available move.
In my brief moment of motherly advice, I gained two timely life lessons: (1) Instead o
In my brief moment of motherly advice, I gained two timely life lessons: (1) Instead o
ODB: Interruptions
My sister and I were looking forward to our holiday in Taiwan. We had purchased our plane tickets and booked our hotel rooms. But 2 weeks before the trip, my sister learned she had to stay at home in Singapore to handle an emergency. We were disappointed that our plans were interrupted.Jesus’ disciples were accompanying Him on an urgent mission when their trip was interrupted (Mark 5:21-42). The
ODJ: dark and quiet
Gordon Hempton is one of the world’s few acoustic ecologists. He travels the world recording what he calls “the last quiet places”,—places completely untouched by modern human sound. Hempton records remote locations on the other side of the world as well as nearby wonders, such as the sound of the tide washing over a piece of spruce driftwood in a national park. He describes silence not
ODB: A New Bucket List
Afriend told me he had recently accomplished one of the things on his “bucket list” (a list of things to do before you die) when he took his sister to Europe. Although he had traveled there many times, she had never been there. What struck me was the unselfish nature of having that goal on his “bucket list.” It caused me to wonder how many of my dreams and goals are focused on oth
ODJ: not outsmarted
The French philosopher Voltaire suspected that he would win the lottery in 1729. With a statistician friend he calculated that the jackpot would be much greater than the cost of all the tickets. They pooled their money with other friends, bought as many tickets as possible, won and split the prize money. Outwitting the Parisian government paid big—Voltaire received over a million francs. But som
ODB: Surfacing
Human beings straddle visible and invisible realities—the natural and the supernatural. I thought about these two worlds when I went out in a boat to watch whales off the coast of New Zealand. A whale would rest on the surface for a while, then breathe deeply a few times, his exhalations creating a spectacular spout, before plunging a mile deep to feed on squid.Despite having its own lively habi
ODJ: powerless and foolish
If a friend asked you, “Where can I experience the power and wisdom of God?” would you bring him or her to a university? The following saying would cause us to question this choice: The university has lots of knowledge. The first years came in with some. The final years left with none. That is how knowledge accumulates.
Where would Paul point us in our pursuit? To to
Where would Paul point us in our pursuit? To to