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Shortly after I sent out the newsletter announcing our transition into a new area of ministry and the launch of Village Soul, I received a Facebook message from a friend encouraging us in this new step. His short note concluded with this thought, “I think every church needs such a missionary.” Though I don’t want…

At our office recently, we have had an encounter with a mourning dove that can be a great lesson in persistence. In mid-April, we noticed a mourning dove couple that was trying to build their nest on top the sign next out our door. Though we had nothing personal against this young couple trying to…

I read a great devotional based on Tozer’s writings today. http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer/tozer.jsp?id=545 The verse reference has to do with the impossibility of serving two masters. Tozers’s writings focus on the need to eliminate the bad in our life in conjunction with receiving the good.I particularly like the illustration of breathing that Tozer uses. He states “Exhalation…

Lately I’ve been pondering John Mayer’s song, “Gravity.” There’s a prayer in this simple soulful tune. It’s a prayer that each of us can identify with. Mayer is bewildered by an invisible force in his life that keeps him from achieving his full potential. He calls this force gravity. It draws him to do the…

My morning reading today was James 3:13 – 18. 13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth…

This blog’s been pretty silent for the past six months. We’ve been busily getting ready for a return to working in campus ministry and a move to another state. Still, the event of the collapse of the 35W bridge here in Minneapolis requires at least some recording of thoughts for future review. I don’t want…

I was going through my files on my hard drive this weekend and found a text file of a thread I initiated on a message board I once was a part of. I thought some of the comments would be worth posting on this blog. It was from 2004. Leon LongardWed Apr 14, 2004 2:42…

This morning I was meditating on the first 5 verses of Revelation 14. These verses speak of 144,000 who are spiritually undefiled. They are like pure virgins. They are also described as redeemed from the earth and purchased from among the people of the earth.The sense I get is that this is not a purity…

It’s quite obvious from the last couple of posts that I am reading through the book of Revelation right now. This is always a challenging book for me, because in many places it speaks of a part of God’s character that I would like to forget some times. God is holy (no concern here) and…

Two days ago I was reading Revelation chapter 6. It’s a chapter that speaks of God’s wrath being poured out on a rebellious world.There was a time when I would read a chapter like this with a very ethnocentric and nationalistic interpretation. I don’t know that it was racism as much as growing up in…

A couple of days ago I was reading Revelation 3. Verse 17 stood out to me. You say “I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need anything!” And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Sounds like American culture in many ways. We need…