The season of Lent is now about half over as we move toward the celebration of Easter. The time of Lent is often seen as a time of fasting. No, this does not mean driving faster in your vehicle to try to beat the red light. It doesn’t mean running faster as you go for your daily run.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says “if your enemy wrongs you, buy his children drums.” Revenge. How often people want to seek revenge to make another person hurt the way we have been made to hurt. This is how most people want to react. Unfortunately, revenge perpetuates itself.

When my telephone rang at 12:50 a.m. the person identified herself as a dispatcher with the police department and asked if I was the police chaplain on call. I said I was. She then said there was an accident at the intersection in front of the church I served and my presence was being requested.

Max Lucado wrote: “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.”

What do the following two groups of names have in common? The first group of names: Moses, Jonah, and Jeremiah. The second group: Noah, Abraham, and Mary.

What difference does it make? This question can be asked in several different ways, each seeking the same answer. It can be asked in anger or frustration…

When one of my daughters was married 12 years ago, I was only peripherally involved in all the pre-wedding planning. My daughter wanted me to do the ceremony, so I was more focused on that than anything else. I didn’t understand all the hubbub and pressure surrounding all the other preparations.

As a volunteer police chaplain, one dark night I was called to the scene of a terrible accident where an older man, while attempting to cross the highway in a dark area, was struck by a vehicle and seriously injured.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Isaiah 43:1-7. It says in part, The Lord says, “Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (43:1).