4th Day Letters

In your mind, try to picture a participant in a track meet running the high hurdles. He is winning as he approaches the final hurdle. Suddenly there’s a painful fall. He trips on the last hurdle and falls flat on his face just before the finish line. The pain and...

It has often been said that sausage making is an ugly process. The end product may be tasty, but if you ever saw how it was made, you might think twice before eating it. This might be an appropriate analogy for the process of selecting a new pope. It’s not always...

We often assume that people behind prison walls are the ones truly trapped, while those of us walking free are the ones who know what liberty feels like. But what if the opposite is true? During my recent prison retreat, I encountered men who, despite their crimes and...

Please join me in celebrating my 700th 4th Day Letter. When I sat down to write this week’s 4th Day Letter, I reflected upon the memories of so many past messages. I can hardly believe that I have written seven hundred over the past 13 plus years. I only set out with...

Here we are at the beginning of Holy Week. For us as Christians, this week stands as the pinnacle week of the year. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are inextricably linked, each giving meaning to the other. Without the resurrection of Easter, Good Friday would merely...

Matthew 25:31-46 gives us the parable about the separation of the sheep from the goats. In it, Jesus tells us if we fail to care for the "least of these" (the hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick, and imprisoned) we will go off to eternal punishment. Simply stated,...

Moving is never easy. It can disrupt our routines, pull us away from friends, and fill us with uncertainty. Yet sometimes, we know deep down that we’re being called to move. In 1999, my family and I left the comfort of close friendships in Florida and stepped into the...

As you know, Lent is a time set aside for deep reflection, repentance, and preparation. As we journey toward the Good Friday cross and the glorious resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, we seek to align our hearts with God’s will, stripping away the distractions of...

During my freshman year at Ohio State, I read Dante’s Inferno as part of a class called Religious and Secular Man. This book left a deep impression on me. Drawing inspiration from it, I thought I would attempt something totally different. As we continue to make our...

Circumcision, that ancient practice first instituted by God as a sign of His covenant with Abraham, might seem puzzling to us as modern Christians. Why would God choose such an intimate and painful act to signify belonging to Him? And what could this ancient ritual...