For me, one scene captures the manifold tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic. A friend named Dan was already suffering from Lewy body dementia, a brain disorder that affects thinking and reasoning as well as muscle control. Once a college football hero, now Dan could no longer negotiate steps or even figure out how to sit in a chair. After several years of loving care, his wife reluctantly had to move him into a memory care facility, which she visited every... Read more
The most devastating effects of the coronavirus in America has occurred, and is occurring, amongst those that are the most vulnerable and most invisible in our society: nursing home residents. It is imperative for churches to take up the cause of these individuals and begin to work with governments and institutions to provide for the physical, mental, and spiritual health of nursing home residents and staff. It appears on the surface to be an oddity: why has so little attention... Read more
The street artist Banksy has unveiled new artwork that captures the ethos of this moment. He depicts a child playing with a nurse doll wearing a face mask and cape. Figures of Batman and Superman lie in a wastebasket on the floor. The artist donated his work to the University Hospital Southampton in the UK. Healthcare workers are our new superheroes. Researchers seeking therapies and vaccines for COVID-19 are our harbingers of hope. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, no one... Read more
As the statistics on illness and death due to COVID-19 keep rising, the economic statistics keep falling. In March the stock market lost more than $11 trillion in value, and has been yo-yoing ever since. While the more fortunate are mourning their dwindling retirement plans, the truly desperate have joined the 30 million Americans applying for unemployment benefits. How will they pay the rent or feed their families? While watching the news one day, I flashed back to another time... Read more
None of us ever expects to be quarantined. I certainly didn’t. But following a bone marrow transplant in 2015, I was secluded for four months in hospital housing. Except for my wife, no visitors were allowed. Even after moving home, I remained in quasi-isolation for another eight months. Why? Because my immune system was susceptible to germs and viruses. With this personal history, what advice can I give to those who are being quarantined by the coronavirus today? Or to... Read more
How should be we respond to the plague we face now, the coronavirus? Rather than add to the millions of words on thousands of websites related to COVID-19, I’ll instead post links to a sampling of some I’ve found that offer perspective and help. Read more
Just over a year ago I wrote an article titled, Donald Trump is No Saint. The article was in response to a letter sent to me. The premise of the letter was that since God has used “very flawed” persons throughout the Bible, perhaps, he could use such today (i.e., Trump). I responded by noting that “very flawed” was not a proper designation for Noah, Moses, and Paul (some of the persons the letter characterized as used by God and... Read more
Doubt has a stubborn power, as the Bible itself reveals. Out of my own experience with doubt, I have reached a few conclusions. Read more
Is our current president an “instrument of righteousness”? The primary problem with this question is that it misunderstands what righteousness is, biblically speaking. Righteousness, in scripture, is intimately tied to God’s covenantal faithfulness. Read more
In 1989, shockingly, not just the Berlin Wall but the entire system of communism began to collapse. In the three decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, historians have had a field day analyzing what prompted a revolution no one had predicted. Read more
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