J.G. Wood's blog

Michael sits in the closet.  He hears the screams, the crying, each blow that lands on her.  He cries along with her because he doesn't know of anything else to do.  Finally, after what seems like hours, a door slams.  Michael hears her call him, "It's okay, sweetie.  You can come out now."  He cautiously steps out of the closet.  His mother has a black eye.  Her lips is busted.  She smiles through her tears and tells him he can go to bed now.  It's over.  For now.

A friend of mine once said, "My greatest fear is that on the last day, the books on my shelf will rise up in judgment against me."  What he meant by this was that he was responsible for the knowledge he had gained through the books he had read.  We are responsible for what we know.  Jesus puts it this way, "but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." (Luke 12:48 NASB)

This morning on my way to work, I was thinking about Thanksgiving. So many of my friends have been talking and writing about what they are thankful for. I began to ask myself the question, “What am I thankful for?” I could quickly list off a handful of items: my kids, my house, and my car. Casually browsing the radio stations, I came across the familiar sound of Ice Cube’s It Was a Good Day.  At that point, I realized just how much I can truly be thankful for.

About a year ago, in the little known city of Bryan, TX, a radical outreach to the impoverished was started by a group of college students, Christians, social workers, and community members.  This outreach was not organized by a church or a denomination.  It was not the brain child of a global organization attempting to stamp out poverty and social injustice.  It was born from a group of people coming together to do something good for the poor.

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.  - 1 Corinthians 4:15

There is a term used heavily in older Christian cirles that seems to be going out of style.  It brings to mind images of choirs singing old hymns in a little country church.  The term is "born again."  I'm not sure exactly why or when this term fell out of favor.  The thing is, in John 3:3, Jesus says that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.  A few years ago, a man offered his testimony in church.  He said that he was in a lot of trouble with police and with a lot of people who were even scarier than the police.  His hair was a bright purple mohawk and his life was hanging by a thread.  He found himself one night standing on the edge of a bridge thinking of how nice it would be to end it all.  For some reason,