by Andy Wood on January 21, 2010
Tense Truth: Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. But we are virtually helpless to reinterpret history for ourselves. We need a Source of truth that isn’t subject to the distortions we bring to hindsight.
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Ms. Past, she’s such a wicked lady,
Ms. Past, she’s always there a waiting,
She’s the Devil’s favorite tool,
She’ll play you like a fool,
She’ll try until she rules.
-Michael and Stormie Omartian
Whoever said hindsight is 20/20 needs new glasses.
Hindsight is blind as a bat.
It’s a house of mirrors.
You can get more accuracy from a weekend weatherman about a 10-day forecast than you can from looking at life in the mirror.
If hindsight is 20/20, why do historians always argue?
If hindsight is 20/20, why do two people in conflict always tell two completely different stories? (And tell two more a week later?)
If hindsight is 20/20, why does the same event speak to you completely differently from the perspective of a day, a week, a month, a year, or a generation?
If hindsight is 20/20, why does God repeatedly have to remind the children of Israel about their rescue from Egypt and the whole Red Sea episode? I’ll tell you why. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on October 12, 2009
Okay, first watch the short video, then let’s talk.
This is an adaptation of a story Henri Nouwen used to tell. Voice, illustrations, direction by Allen Weathers…
Before the dawn of time as we know it, God foresaw. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on March 22, 2009
I don’t know geology, but I know generally what they’re talking about when they use the word, “fault.” Somewhere deep in the foundations of the earth are places where cracks produce shifts at times in the earth’s foundation. We experience them as earthquakes. Destructive and deadly, they leave scars on lives and landscapes that time alone doesn’t fix. All the result of faults that, may have seemed nonexistent a day earlier.
Faults show up in the Bible, too. “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other,” James says, “so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16, LB). First thing I notice is that even “righteous men” have faults. And who better to pray for our faults than someone who is painfully aware of their own?
Of course, we have other names for faults… character flaws, weaknesses, besetting sins, vices. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on September 18, 2008
Imagine you’re through the pearly gates, roaming the streets of gold getting the lay of the land. It’s heaven, baby! Not a concept or a wish, but the real deal.
There are people there – some you know, many more you’re still meeting. Famous people and unknowns. A few claims to fame; myriads upon myriads of testimonies of God’s grace and love. Names from every tongue and tribe known to man.
Let me tell about an introduction you’ll never hear:
“Hi! I’m the woman caught in adultery.”
On this side, that’s all we know to call her.
On this side, that or something like it may be all somebody may be able to say about you.
Reputations and memories can be brutal, unforgiving things. But the one thing more relentless than a disgraceful legacy is the scandalous grace of God.
This nameless woman had a name her parents had given her. Maybe it was Ruth or Mary, Joanna or Phoebe. But she had one, and used it.
She’ll also have a new name written down in glory. One known only to her, fresh from the whisper of God.
This was a woman whose world was rocked and life was changed by five words: [click to continue…]
