Russellings of the Spirit

Jesus Christ

  • Helicopter Prayers

    “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”         – Psalm 28:7, NRSV She was tiny. So tiny the bed covers seemed to… Continue reading

  • An Innocent Man

    In 1984, a drug dealer was shot to death at a gas station in St. Louis, Missouri. The shooter was identified as a light-skinned African American male, 5’5” in height. Police immediately began looking for suspects. Even though Darryl Burton was… Continue reading

  • Someone to believe

    “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.” Isaiah 43:4, NRSV If you know the name George Catlett Marshall, you know him… Continue reading

  • Take Hope

    “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” Romans 8:24, NRSV. Hope is a precious commodity these days. On some days, it can be harder to find than that ever-elusive toilet paper. We squint and look at the… Continue reading

  • Safe at home?

    Let me ask you: how safe do you feel right now? I will answer first by confessing that most of the time, I feel pretty safe. My safety, I am well aware, derives largely from the privilege I enjoy as… Continue reading

  • A Letter from Inside…

    Dear Mom; Well, it’s been one month now since they locked me up and this is the first time I’ve sat down and written to you. I’m really sorry about that! It’s just that… well, honestly, I can’t come up… Continue reading

  • Team Jesus

    I made my choice a long time ago. In the middle of one of the darkest times of my life… when every door seemed to be sealed shut… when my relationships only offered pain and resentment… when the future looked… Continue reading

  • Give it up

    Here in the U.S., we sing proudly about being citizens of, “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” And yet most of the time we define freedom as “my right to do whatever I damned well… Continue reading

  • What would YOU do?

    What if? What if you KNEW – with all the confidence you could muster – that things were going to turn out badly? What if – more specifically – you knew that the path your friend was walking would lead… Continue reading

  • Something from Nothing, Part 2

    (In yesterday’s installment, I recounted one of my most abysmal performances as a pastoral counselor. Troy, a congregant, had come to see me with an incredible mountain of problems including job loss, cancer, his wife’s infidelity, and parenting challenges, all… Continue reading