Nightmares Don’t Get the Last Word

 From failing grades to naked shame, trauma sharpened my dreams—until healing dulled the blade

Politics Won’t Feed the Hungry

Isaiah’s Ancient Wisdom: Stop Accusing, Start Serving

“If you remove the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”
— Isaiah 58:9-10

Isaiah doesn’t mince words. God is not impressed by finger-pointing, name-calling, or endless shouting matches over who is more righteous. He says: Stop it. All of it.

Look at the list:

• Stop judging others.

• Stop calling them names.

• Stop pretending that labeling someone “evil,” “racist,” “cult-like,” “privileged,” or “deplorable” makes you good by comparison.

And instead: feed the hungry, tend to the afflicted, share your resources, use your strength.

The difference is stunning. Finger-pointing multiplies darkness. But helping multiplies light.

I saw this firsthand during a moving project with my daughter and son-in-law. At first, three of us slogged through it—sweating, groaning, making no progress. Add a fourth person, and suddenly it got lighter. Add two more, and it was as though ten people were there. That’s how service works. Your effort becomes more than your own. It’s like God builds a multiplier into generosity.

Gossip, accusation, and politics make the load heavier. But service makes it lighter.

And Isaiah goes further: not only does the community benefit—you yourself are lifted. Your gloom becomes like noonday. The weight you thought you were carrying alone dissolves in the joy of giving.

This is the pattern written all through Scripture. Stop tearing down. Start building up. Stop talking about justice. Start living it.

And when you do? People will notice. Your moral arguments will finally carry weight, not because you shouted louder, but because you lived better.

It really is that simple.

When Justice Backfires

 When Justice Backfires

"He expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!"
— From Isaiah 5

The fall of a culture doesn’t begin with its enemies. It begins with its own people, convinced they are fighting for justice, yet blind to the rot beneath their feet.

Every great civilization starts with something magnificent: freedom, innovation, beauty, learning. But generations rarely stop at gratitude. Instead, they begin asking: Why do they have more than I do? Why do they deserve it? “Deserve” becomes the word on everyone’s lips.

Dig into the past, and you will always find faults. No nation ever rose without some mixture of conquest, injustice, or favoritism. The builders were human. And humans are never spotless.

The tragedy is that later generations weaponize these flaws. Instead of building on the strengths they inherited, they nurse resentment, convinced they are owed more. Justice morphs into score-settling. Love collapses into self-interest. Even righteousness gets recast as self-righteousness.

Isaiah’s warning is clear: when people chase “justice” and “righteousness” for selfish ends, they end up with the opposite. Walls fall. Societies unravel. And the cry of despair replaces the song of blessing.

History shows that once this collapse begins, it may take centuries—sometimes half a millennium—to recover.

Isaiah’s vineyard parable is not ancient poetry. It is a mirror. The question is whether we dare to look into it.

The Rich, the Poor, and the Kingdom Come

What Mary Still Teaches Us

He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

 - From Luke 1

Home is Not on This Map

Home is Not on This Map

They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. - From Hebrews 11

If Moses, Aaron, and Samuel Were That Bad . . .

 

If Moses, Aaron, and Samuel Were That Bad . . .

Psalm 99 | Transfiguration Eve

You were a God who forgave them, yet punished them for their evil deeds.

- From Psalm 99

Saved . . . From What?

 Saved from What?

“He redeemed them from the hand of the foe.”

— From Psalm 107:2b