by jakeowensby | Dec 2, 2022 | God's love, Matthew 3:1-12
A dear old mentor of mine passed away a few years ago. But the lessons he taught still help me see things—see myself—a little more clearly. Maybe the most important of those lessons came in the form of a story he once told on himself in his usual self-deprecating...
by jakeowensby | Sep 24, 2022 | God's love, Human Dignity, Luke 16:19-31, Respect
Eavesdropping is impolite. But sometimes you can’t help overhearing somebody else’s conversation. Waiting for a flight from Atlanta to Chicago, I was sitting across from a man in his early twenties. He was talking on his cell phone. Loudly. About his mother. “What a...
by jakeowensby | Mar 22, 2015 | God's love, The Incarnation
Listen to the AudioI love Louisiana. Our food. Our climate. Our landscape. Above all our people. I grew up elsewhere, but Louisiana isn’t just where I live. It’s home.Precisely because Louisiana is my home, I take our problems and challenges to heart. And to be...
by jakeowensby | Jul 30, 2012 | God's love
Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. (John 6:11)If you’re going to follow Jesus—I mean really follow Jesus instead of being a sort of casual fan or a distant...
by jakeowensby | Jul 24, 2012 | God's love
And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. (Mark 6:56)We go to the doctor when we are sick. We don’t go to...
by jakeowensby | Feb 13, 2012 | Atonement, God's love
We all want to matter. There is no despair greater than having the sense that the world simply would not notice your absence.Come to think of it, I suspect we would all rather say that the world would be better off without us than to say that our presence or absence...