Sitting on a white bench on the Khyber Road in the middle of Phoenix Park on the western edge of Dublin, Ireland, on a windy day. October 5, 2018 The wind blows from behind me, but I don’t know where it comes from. And it passes by me into the trees on the other side […]
For it is the least among you all who is the greatest. Luke 9:48 The following took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an Anglican church in Dublin, Ireland, on May 11, 2016. This morning at 9:00 Matins, I sat two pews behind an old woman in a shawl who caught my attention. After the service, […]
“Do you like mysteries?” the young man asked the old man the next morning. “I am confounded by mysteries,” he said, “especially concerning the cross. I understand that redemption took place on the cross, but why a cross?” The young man looked straight into his eyes as if He could see right through him, which […]
You can understand the basics of the Bible in just three hours in this 147-page book that starts with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and ends with the second coming of Jesus Christ in Revelation. Pastor Bill Hicks is the lead author, and I worked with him on this […]
You can find unusual people in offbeat places who serve as spiritual partners. I have an African American spiritual guide named Ricco in the Wright County Jail. I look forward to our visits when I come into the jail Monday afternoons as a chaplain. We share our spiritual insights, but I think I learn more […]
“How do you see God, Brian?” I asked one of the men I mentor who is a new Christian. “He’s the Guy upstairs who I follow. He’s the one who created the world and me. He’s the one who died for my sins. I don’t know if I’m answering it the way you want. Why […]
Just before I stepped up on the stage to give chapel at the Adult and Teen Chapel in Brainerd, Minnesota, yesterday, a guy named Adam stood at the podium and everyone cheered. He was one of them returned. Adam told his story of going through the 13-month program there in the past and had been […]
I met with John again a week later. His face looked like he’d just been told his best friend had died. “What’s wrong, John?” I asked. “That getting rid of all the impurities in my heart and seeking all that’s true is really hard, Pat,” he mumbled. I smiled. “It’s more than hard, John; it’s […]
Some time back I was going through a spiritual dry spell during a time I had taken on two new clients in my business coaching and was editing a book that had almost as many errors as there were sentences in the manuscript (a slight exaggeration). In addition to this were the controversies over wearing […]
Danny is a real person I met in the Wright County Jail on two different occasions. The first time around, he was indicted on a bogus charge of rape by his girlfriend who wanted to get even with him for calling the cops after she hit him repeatedly while high and distraught. We prayed and […]