by jakeowensby | Jun 17, 2022 | Luke 8:26-39
“How can they do this to me two days in a row!” The hour was late. The line for Delta’s help desk was long. Weather had forced dozens of flight delays and cancellations. The woman behind me was having a very public meltdown, venting her frustration and exhaustion on...
by jakeowensby | May 6, 2022 | Psalm 23
He was pointing a pistol at her. I stepped in between him and my mom. The gun was now aimed at me. I calmly told my father, “Don’t kill my mother.” I was ten years old. As I look back on that night from the distance of more than five decades, I’m still sort of...
by jakeowensby | Mar 25, 2022 | Luke 15:1-3 & 11b-32
After returning from Afghanistan and spending a couple of more years serving at Camp Pendleton, our oldest son Andrew got his discharge papers. He started his transition to civilian life in our home. Both of his younger siblings were still living with us at the time....
by jakeowensby | Jan 28, 2022 | grace, Luke 4:21-30
Polls tell us that a lot of people are angry these days. Habitually, set on steady-boil angry. We’re not talking about a measured righteous indignation at injustice or the momentary blood pressure spikes at life’s little indignities and frustrations. No, the research...
by jakeowensby | Oct 14, 2021 | grace, Mark 10:35-45
When I was 23 I underwent a six-hour surgery. The physician harvested skin and muscle from my throat and from the sides of my mouth. He used that tissue to construct what is called a pharyngeal flap, a kind of artificial soft palate. You see, I was born without the...