- by Jon C SwansonFREE Shipping on eligible ordersIn StockMore Buying ChoicesRead this and over 1 million books withKindle Unlimited.Auto-delivered wirelessly
A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works
Nov 30, 2013by Jon C SwansonFREE Shipping on eligible ordersIn StockMore Buying ChoicesRead this and over 1 million books withKindle Unlimited.Auto-delivered wirelessly- by Jon SwansonRead this and over 1 million books withKindle Unlimited.Auto-delivered wirelesslyBorrow for free from your Kindle device.Join Amazon Prime
Anticipation: An Advent Reader
Dec 4, 2012by Jon SwansonRead this and over 1 million books withKindle Unlimited.Auto-delivered wirelesslyBorrow for free from your Kindle device.Join Amazon Prime
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Blog postWe have a daughter. Her name is Hope. But I can’t remember whether or not she likes blueberry-peach pie. So this isn’t about her.
It is about expectation and anticipation and confidence. And uncertainty. And blueberry-peach pie.
Sunday was a very long day at work for me, which means that it was a hard day for several families. In the middle of the afternoon, Nancy texted me that she was making blueberry-peach pie.
I know Nancy’s pies. They are consistently good. I know -
Blog postI was talking to a group recently and mentioned setting a record in a high school golf tournament. As a sophomore, I earned a score of 100 on nine holes.
If you don’t play golf, you need to know that the lowest score wins. And that professional golfers routinely score between 65 and 70 for eighteen holes.
After the meeting, someone asked about it. I said I hit 25 strokes on the first hole alone. And then I described the beginning of the hole, and my first six strokes (into wat -
Blog postNow that we’ve thought about seed, Jesus says to understand the growth of belief or the absence of growth, pay attention to the soil.
Some people live with arms already crossed and ears covered. If they were face-to-face with Jesus, they would turn the other way. Sometimes, perhaps, they have good reason. Their capacity to hear has been trampled by life. Other times they just refuse to listen. Whatever the case, the words of another kingdom do not take root.
Other people respo -
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Blog postYesterday, we walked through the farming story that Jesus told. It’s a story that makes sense just as a story. But then Jesus starts to explain it.
The seed, Jesus says, is the news about the kingdom of God.
He talked about it all the time. He taught us to pray often that God’s kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
As Jesus talked and lived it, it is a place of community for the lonely, welcome for the rejected, healing for the sick, rest -
Blog post(This is a short series on the parable of the soils.)
I talk to lots of people who talk about Jesus.
They wonder where he is.
They wonder what he means by what he said. They say, “It’s hard to believe that he wants us to do this or that.” They say, “I’m not sure that he really meant what he said.” And then we say that if we saw him, if we heard him, we would believe him.
I understand that desire to look him in the face and talk with him.
But I’m not sur -
Blog postSome days I’m pretty resilient at the hospital. I walk out tired but grateful.
Recently I had one of the “not” days. The day wasn’t excruciating by chaplain standards. A death, a new baby, a couple of visits with people chronically ill. Encouraging conversations in the midst of hard times. The opportunity to speak graciously in difficult moments. Offering help and practical next steps.
It was the kind of day that makes you say, “It’s challenging but rewarding.”
And the -
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Blog postI’ve been at a conference most of the week. It’s the biennial meeting for the denomination I’m part of.
Many people I talk to in the hospital and elsewhere say that they are not much interested in organized religion, the kind that is represented by this conference.
In defense, the joke we tell is that organized religion isn’t very organized. And the platitude we offer is that we aren’t about religion, we’re about relationship. Or better, God’s not about religion, he’s about re -
Blog postA friend made a challenging request: “We’re working on a booklet to encourage a loved one. I wondered if you had some specific Scripture references related to being in the hospital and recovery.”
It’s challenging because I’m a contextual comforter. I listen for the specific situation and need for encouragement and then offer words from God that seem to fit. But because I know enough about the situation, I’ll offer these.
Psalm 4 is often a night-time prayer that cries out for -
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Blog postThat’s an attention-grabbing headline, isn’t it? It would be just a headline if I hadn’t recently had a hospital conversation with Jim.
Jim’s been in and out of the hospital. He has good support from his own pastor, so I didn’t stop in his room. Even though he looked up when I walked past, I went into the stairwell and down three steps. And stopped.
I knew I had to go back. I’m grateful that I did.
I introduced myself. We chatted about some people and -
Blog postWhat do you want to leave behind?
I was reading Phil Cooke’s One Big Thing over the weekend. He writes about being devoted to one big thing rather than many small things. In his chapter on choosing your one big thing, he says to ask four questions: “What comes easy to you? What do you love? What drives you crazy? What do you want to leave behind?”
The first two are self-explanatory. The third one he explains as thinking about the things in the world that make you angry or sad -
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