My book The Mystery of Marriage was published exactly thirty years ago. Since then I’ve written about marriage only once, to add a new chapter on “Oneness” to the twentieth anniversary edition. Now, for the thirtieth anniversary, some notes toward another new chapter. This is the first of a five-part series on renouncing marital strife.
A friend who appreciates my books once told me, “What I love about your writing is its quality of ordinariness.” He went on to elaborate, but unfortunately I missed all he said because I was so struck by that one word: ordinariness. I knew exactly what he meant, and rather than being offended, I was deeply flattered.
The Gospel According To Job is a book that grew out of a time of deep depression in my life. It took five years to write, and it came as a great surprise when at the end of that time I was more depressed than ever!
I’m tired of hearing people talk of evil as a great mystery. Many things are mysteries in this world but evil is not one of them. Indeed I believe mystery to be the sole province of God; He alone creates and personifies it. Calling evil mysterious is our way of evading responsibility for sin, blaming bad things on God and hiding from our own guilt.
Recently I published a Foreword to a new novel by Greg McKitrick, A Walk in the Thai Sun. This book is a detective novel with a twist. Every detective novel has twists, but this one twists toward an exploration of Christian faith as it unfolds in the unbelieving heart of the protagonist, a retired police detective whose missionary son has been murdered. Have a look at the book trailer, and here’s my Foreword:Continue reading
Michelangelo said, “My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it be through earth’s loveliness.” I experienced a little of that loveliness last week at the official launch party for my new book Twenty-One Candles: Stories for Christmas.
This, the fourth and final installment of my series on Contemplative Prayer, contains a beautiful excerpt from George MacDonald’s fairy tale The Princess and the Goblin.
While there are many books on meditation and contemplative prayer that outline various methods, I believe the essence of this prayer is not a method but simply resting in God’s presence: loving Him, and letting Him love you.
We cannot speak of contemplative prayer without addressing the notorious problem of controlling or silencing one’s thoughts. You may ask: In order to practice this prayer of quiet, of focussing on deep feeling, how can I completely still my mind? When I try to become quiet, my thoughts race more than ever. Well, the brain was made for thinking, and you can’t stop your thoughts any more than you can stop grass from growing. Besides, you want to remain open to thoughts that may come to you from the Lord. So don’t even try to suppress your thoughts.Continue reading
This week I begin a four-part series on contemplative prayer. I call it “Feeling God” because it strikes me as odd when Christians talk of hearing God’s voice when what we really mean is feeling God’s voice or presence.