So many of us experience the blues over the holidays. How do we turn painful emotional triggers into prompts of comfort and hope? I am slowly learning how to answer this question that is often at the front of my mind most days and nights. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were by no means exemptions. In what follows, I will reflect on how I sought to turn holiday blues into blue skies even on rainy and gray days here in... Read more

This week many churches lit the Angel’s Candle on the Advent Wreath. The Angel’s Candle symbolizes peace in keeping with the angelic host’s declaration: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14; NIV). Luke’s Gospel connects peace with Jesus’ presence and God’s glory. We find a similar statement in Luke 19. At the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ crowd of disciples rather than the angelic host cries out: “Blessed... Read more

This past Sunday, many churches anticipated Jesus’ coming to the world by lighting the Shepherd’s Candle. The Shepherd’s Candle signifies the joy the shepherds experienced at the angel’s announcement of Jesus’ birth. The angel who appeared to the shepherds tending their flocks on the night of Jesus’ birth declared to them that Jesus’ presence would spell “great joy for all the people.” Here is the passage in Luke’s Gospel that recounts what transpired: And there were shepherds living out in... Read more

Today marks the second Sunday of Advent. Many Christians celebrate it by lighting the “Bethlehem Candle.” The Bethlehem Candle is intended to illumine the week with the recollection of Mary and Joseph’s journey of faith to Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary’s entire married life was one of faith. Mary had been told she would be the mother of the Messiah and that the birth would result from an immaculate conception (Luke 1:26-38). Joseph was told to marry Mary rather than sever... Read more

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Many churches lit the Prophecy or Prophet’s Candle during morning services. The Prophecy or Prophet’s Candle emphasizes the long-awaited, long-suffering, and long-lasting hope for the Messiah’s first advent as well as his return. My wife and I reflected during morning devotions upon such passages as Luke 2, where Simeon and Anna rejoiced when Mary and Joseph presented the baby Jesus in the Temple. The following passage illustrates the earnest and patient hope they... Read more

Yesterday, my friend Ed Stone and I met for lunch and then went to sit with my son, Christopher, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). One of the administrators gave instructions to the CNAs to use the Hoyer Lift to transfer Christopher to his wheelchair so we could take him to a meeting room for a visit (For a prior post on my vision of my son in his wheelchair as a chariot of fire, please refer here).... Read more

Late Monday afternoon, I left work and raced over to my son Christopher’s rehabilitative care facility to watch our Chicago Bears take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. There is nowhere I would have rather been that night. Watching the game at my son’s bedside was better than if I could have watched it from the fifty yard line or in a luxury suite at Heinz Field. Just so you know, Christopher and I grew up as Chicago... Read more

Last Wednesday, I had a flashback to a conversation with my wife Mariko in January or February. It was soon after our son Christopher sustained a devastating brain injury. We were standing in the kitchen and I told Mariko that I was done with ministry. I couldn’t go on. We both broke down. She pleaded with me to keep going. She said Christopher told her how he respected me and what I do—how could I give up and throw in... Read more

Sometimes I have to wear a mask and a face shield along with a plastic blue gown when I visit my son Christopher’s rehabilitative care facility. COVID precautions require it at times given the level of risk on the premises. It’s about the closest I have come to dressing up in a costume this year, long before Halloween. I greatly appreciate the level of precautions the leadership at the rehabilitative care facility have instituted. One of the supervisors told me... Read more

Family and friends have shared with me visions and dreams they have had of my son Christopher since he endured a traumatic brain injury in January. The dreams and visions portray Christopher in a conscious and restored state. Well, I have also experienced a unique mental impression of Christopher recently. It involves a wheelchair and a chariot of fire. Several days ago, a nurse and I shared with Christopher that the CNAs would be placing him in his wheelchair to... Read more