Jesus

October 9, 2024

The top eight ways to hear God

I’ve often wanted to have a conversation with my twenty-something-year-old self, to share some wisdom from this end of my lifespan and to offer guidance to make his life not necessarily easier but more fulfilling. Some things I’d share, my younger self could never imagine. So I wonder about the wisdom I cannot imagine today Continue reading

Ruminations

ask and it will be given you, Be still, bible, conscience, David Letterman, Elijah, faith, God, God’s voice, guidance, guides, hearing, hearing God, Isaac the Syrian, Jeremiah, Jesus, ladder to the Kingdom, listen, Listening, living with full attention, new covenant, prayer, silence, sound of sheer silence, spiritual disciplines, St. Benedict, teachers, test what you hear, the ear of your heart, the persistent widow, the set of the sails, Top Ten List, Wesley’s quadrilateral, Will Rogers, wisdom
July 14, 2024

A plumb line

“Then the Lord said, ‘See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people’ (Amos 7:8). The plumb line God set in ancient Israel (Amos 7:7-15) – the reference point or standard that would reveal the values around which their life had been built – revealed a nation skewed so far out Continue reading

Ruminations

Adrienne LaFrance, Amos, another way to live, christianity, Einstein, eternal life, faith, God, good and evil, Jesus, law, law of life, law of love, political structures, social structures, standard of values, Ten Commandments, The New Anarchy
June 17, 2024

Everything has become new

You may have seen artist Charles Allan Gilbert’s depiction of an elegant young woman seated at a vanity, admiring herself in the mirror. With a slight shift of perspective, the image becomes one of a human skull. Gilbert’s art is more than a trick for our eyes or a comment on vanity. It’s also a Continue reading

Ruminations

Alice, Annie Dillard, bible, born again, Charles Allan Gilbert, Cheshire Cat, comprehending, comprehension, God, Jesus, man born blind, new creation, Nicodemus, patience, perception, prayerscaping, seeing, seeing anew, seeing truly, trust in God, understanding, vanity, waiting patiently
April 14, 2024

You got anything to eat?

I’m not sure the resurrection appearances of Jesus are all that helpful. It’s not that they’re unimportant; on the contrary, they’re central to Christian faith. But sometimes they pull us into such a rarefied frame of mind that we risk losing touch with what the resurrection is about. The mythical giant Antaeus was invincible as Continue reading

Ruminations

Antaeus, doubt, greatest hope, greatest need, Hercules, Jesus, most urgent question, resurrection appearances, resurrrection, the risen Christ
February 25, 2024

Our hopes are too small

If you want to identify me, to know who I am, don’t bother to read my résumé. The best way to identify me is to “ask me what I’m living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for” (Thomas Merton, Continue reading

Ruminations

Abraham, abundant life, aspirations, confidence, day of salvation, dreams, faith, fulfillment, God’s grace, hopes, Jesus, Michelangelo, promise, salvation, the way, Thomas Merton, visions, wilderness
February 11, 2024

To see and be seen

Some of you remember a television game show from the 1960s called To Tell the Truth. A guest with some unusual occupation or experience would appear with two impostors to be interviewed by four celebrities who tried to identify the authentic guest. After some questioning, the host would say, “Would the real [guest’s name] please Continue reading

Ruminations

a quiet place, Annie Dillard, describing a mystery, Francis Bacon, Jesus, Listening, memorable conversations, mystery, PhilipGlass, quiet, reign of God, Retreat, seven veils, Solitude, spiritual communion, the problem with listening, To Tell the Truth, who am I
July 30, 2023

Feasting on heaven’s banquet

One of my favorite pieces of advice is from the fourth-century Hindu philosopher, playwright, and poet Kalidasa. “Look to this day,” he wrote, “for it is Life – the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence: the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the Continue reading

Ruminations

Alistair Begg, faith, fake it till you make it, good news, gospel, harmony, heaven, Hebrews, Jesus, Kalidasa, keep the faith, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, look to this day, love of God, O for a faith that will not shrink, relationship with God, salvation, St. Paul, The Second Coming, William Bathurst, William Butler Yeats
March 26, 2022

The difficult grace of hating evil

Hating what is evil and holding fast to what is good (Rom. 12:9b) seems obvious and sensible advice until I try putting it into practice. Then it gets complicated; it starts causing problems not easy to solve; it unsettles the way I’ve been taught to think. Take, for example, this bit of wisdom from a Continue reading

Ruminations

consequences, David L. Miller, do the right thing, God's generosity, God's grace, God's judgment, God's mercy, hating evil, hatred toward others, hatred toward self, Jesus, Jesus' critics, Marks of the Christian, moral superiority, older brother, Prayer of Humble Access, prodigal son, St. Paul

About Me

Rich Neal is, in no particular order, a wordsmith and graphic designer; lover of typography, books, and publishing; photographer; contemplative; saunterer; and a retired and still-active pastor. He claims neither special wisdom nor particularly deep insight into life, only occasional glimpses of what lies behind the veil along the way. He shares them here in the hope of connecting the pieces of life’s puzzle that come to him in the journey and would consider it a gift if sharing them also connected him with others who travel an unmarked path toward the same unknown end.