Blessings to you and yours as we set our minds and hearts on Good Friday, and anticipate the triumph of Easter!

By God’s kindness, my second book, Glimmers of Grace, will be released April 13th! Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to post short excerpts from the book, to give you a taste of the content. Much prayer and contemplation, as well as a big chunk of my heart, when into this work. I pray the Lord uses it for good, for the comfort of his people, and for his glory.

Medicine is a common means of God’s kindness, and we see glimmers of his love in every tender moment. Consider the gloved handhold between a nurse and a patient on an operating table, or the song, barely audible, whispered by a mother to her newborn child. A nursing assistant offers to shave the stubble dotting a man’s face after a week-long ICU stay. A doctor and a family member embrace, out of joy at the birth of a child, or out of relief that a loved one has survived a cancer operation. A clinician, compelled by love, foregoes sleep at home to stand vigil all night by the bedside of a critically ill patient.

God moves through such moments to restore the broken, and to illuminate his image through us. He reminds us that our greatest callings in life are to love him, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:36–40). “Love one another,” Jesus told his disciples, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). The Greek word for “love” Jesus uses in this verse is agape, the perfect, selfless, covenantal love that he himself shares with Father. When we lay on hands in medicine, tend wounds, and commit ourselves to the welfare of another, we live out this commandment. We reflect to others a gleam of God’s radiant love.