Romans 8

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

I am confident that the new creation will include animals. I hope that it will include Merle, my deceased smooth-coat collie.

These Trinity Sunday texts show God moving graciously—and persistently—toward people while they struggle to stay on their feet.

While Christian scholars have long questioned body-soul dualism, it remains common in church circles. This may finally be changing.

While Christian scholars have long questioned body-soul dualism, it remains common in church circles. This may finally be changing.

I got the epidural. As the pain receded, I felt an ache of disappointment settle in.

I got the epidural. As the pain receded, I felt an ache of disappointment settle in.

The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is working to infiltrate the whole creation with God's love.

When I combined the popular ideas of God in my mind, I ended up with a strange stew—a lover God who would torture me with fire if I stepped out of line and bless me with diamonds if I obeyed. In other words, my image of God had a serious borderline personality disorder.

In 1983, Kenneth Mitchell and Herbert Anderson wrote that "death is only one form of loss." This would have been unthinkable for Christians half a century earlier.

Rephibia is the kind of pet store that most other stores don’t want around. It doesn’t carry cats or dogs or anything else that is cute and cuddly. All its animals are cold-blooded, and some are quite large. The first thing you see as you walk in the door is a massive python almost 18 feet long. But there are also monitor lizards that are bigger than most dogs, frogs the size of dinner plates (they look strangely like Jabba the Hutt), and even an alligator snapping turtle that is so big you think it might be older than you are.