by Keith Jainga
No. This is not about exercise. Let me explain. I came across a familiar ad. It’s an invitation to visit the Holy Land, Israel. And the selling point is something perhaps many Christians (yes, including myself) desire to experience: “Walk where Jesus walked.” A trip to Israel could be quite inspiring. The experience may easily …
I’ve been thinking about pleasure and the Christian life. Pleasure is defined as “a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment … and entertainment, contrasted with things done out of necessity.” For many professing Christians, delight and pleasure are often neglected—sometimes even suppressed—in the pursuit of spiritual maturity. There still is that tendency to picture spiritual …
Scripture is full of declarations of the blessings that we receive from God, especially through Jesus Christ. One instance of such a declaration may be found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, when he writes about how we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing”—chosen to be holy and blameless in love, adopted to be …
In a recent session with my field mentor, our conversation moved to the subject of facing challenging situations—particularly those times when one is the victim of false accusations or harsh and unfair treatment. While sharing his own experiences, my mentor made a statement that caught my attention. He said something like, “I chose to respond …
Talk about Christian spirituality can sometimes reveal a tendency to think in terms of some kind of religiosity that does not involve the body. For some, the phrase “inner life” would appear to suggest that spirituality occurs somewhere inside an individual, that it only has to do with a person’s “spirit,” which supposedly is the …
A great portion of what is required in my post-grad studies is the reading of books … lots of books. It is so easy to feel so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the assigned reading. I can see the whole matter as a burden, something one would prefer to avoid, which, of course, is …
I received a “first and final notice” from the public library. As it turns out, a book I borrowed was overdue and was “accumulating fines.” I have no excuse. I was not paying attention. The due date crept up on me. And I will have to pay the price. But it’s just a book. I …
More than two weeks ago, our dishwasher stopped working. And it happened at a most inopportune time. We seldom use the dishwasher. But we just had hosted a gathering of friends, and when they left there was a pile of dirty dishes to wash. We loaded the dishwasher, switched it on, and sat down to …
Two friends, pro basketball players on the road, share a hotel room. They talk about different things. And one starts bragging about how he’s been cheating on his fiancée. But little did he know that the other one somehow decided to record a video of the boasting. Then it happens. The recording mysteriously finds its …
Within 24 hours of posting, a photo in Facebook garnered more than 128,000 likes and 35,700 shares. By the time you read this, there probably will be hundreds or even thousands more. It’s the picture of three baristas holding the hand of a drive-through customer and praying for her. The photo was taken by another …
