Author: Jon Gauger

Another bombing. Another killing. That's what I remember of Ireland as I grew up. Night after night we saw images of an island in agony. Indeed, Ireland's history is so violent as to suggest the “Emerald Isle” might better be named the “Blood Red Isle.” But of course, it wasn't Ireland's violent history that brought us there.  No, my wife and I came to see castles and coastlines and clouds.  We were not disappointed with our anniversary vacation. The truth is, our trip to Ireland way exceeded our rather lofty hopes.  Everywhere we hiked or drove was a postcard.  It…

Utterly Safe—Or Not Maybe it's the chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett.  Maybe it's the artifacts and surrealistic images brought to the surface by Robert Ballard.  For whatever reason, the world is mesmerized by Titanic.  Still. Every school child knows the story of the unsinkable ship that sank, drowning more than 1500.  But relatively few can name the port from which the Titanic last departed.  (Hint: if you're thinking somewhere in England, you're off course). On the southern coast of Ireland is a charming town by the name of Cobh, offering lovely views of the waterways leading out to…

The end of a day is a sobering thing. As I write this, I’m watching it happen out the window of a jet bound from Tampa, Florida to Chicago.  Having risen at 4am—long before sunrise—in order to fly down to Tampa, I am now tired.  Happy to kick back and do not much of anything. But as I peered out the window of our 737, I saw the crowning tip of the sun in its last gasp of orange glory. The crest of the glowing ball is now out of view.  I watched it slip away, pondering those last seconds…

4:45am and the taxi finally pulled into my driveway, 15 minutes late. Climbing into the cab, I was confronted with a man in full Muslim dress: white robe, white hat and curly black beard. Apologizing for the delay, he was friendly and talkative.  So I prayed quietly, asking God to show me how to start a conversation with the man. When I learned he was from India—and told him I had visited—he asked if my trip was for missionary work.  Responding yes, the conversation was immediately in high gear. He was in my face right away: “If…peace be upon him…the…

Wonder has gone missing. It’s true. The problem with most of us is we have lost our wonder of God. We say we love Him—and I suppose we do. We say we worship Him—and no doubt we try. But a sense of His otherness, His transcendence, that gut feeling of awe and mystery and an all-consuming fire…for most of us, that’s not our experience with the Most High God. But I saw wonder this week in an unexpected place.  I was out on a long walk with one-year-old Caleb Jaeger, our grandson, when we passed by a “splash pad.”  For…

Only if you have been punched in the stomach, left gasping for air, can you fully relate to my current emotional state.  We've just finished touring the Elmina slave castle.  You say you've never heard of it? It's a foreboding fortress on the coast of Ghana, West Africa built in 1482.  For hundreds of years it was a slave processing center.  That's a polite way of saying that here, human beings were ripped from their families, stripped of their personal dignity, and prepped for a lifetime of misery. For a slave-in-the-making, the three month stay at Elmina offered a daily…

I have spent the last 24 hours immersed in the religion of Islam.  And no surprise—we've been in Istanbul, Turkey.  You literally see the religion of Mohammed from the window of your airplane.  Minarets crowned with golden moons poke high into the sky.  And from that vantage point, it's almost staggering to ponder how many of these mosques they're really are.   To walk the streets of Istanbul is to swim in a crowded black sea, made black by the long robes of submissive Muslim women.  So thoroughly restrictive are these garments, that those requiring glasses wear them on the…

Cue the music: Pulsating rhythm in a minor key Cue the announcer: Serious…impassioned.  Now the script:   Their numbers are legion. Their plight…beyond pathetic. Yet to many, they are all but invisible: lost people.  People living their lives on a trajectory toward the flames of Hell. The horror of what awaits them—apart from God's intervention—ought to grip us and cause us to fall on our knees begging the Almighty to spare them. Instead…the names of these people rarely make our prayer lists…our prayer meetings… our prayer chains.   That is why I make the bold, if not uncomfortable claim, that for…

If there's such a thing as a list of endangered prayer species, revival must surely be on it. Time was when folks actually talked about revival—what it looks like, feels like.  What they’d heard from others who's seen at least a glimpse of it.  We honestly prayed for revival.  Even expected revival to actually happen.    Seems like 20 or 30 years ago, revival was a much hotter subject.  Not today. Now I'm not here to suggest absolutely nobody cares about revival any more.  But interest in the subject definitely seems to have waned.  Nancy DeMoss of “Revive Our Hearts Ministries”…

This week I met a real shepherd in a real field near the real Bible town of Bethlehem. But I must admit the experience was off-putting—even a bit disappointing. Climbing the hillside (camera, tripod, audio recorder in hand), I expected to peer into the face of a weather beaten wrinkled old soul.  I envisioned my shepherd wearing thread bare robes hanging off his frame as his deep furrowed brow expressed concern for wandering sheep in the field. But instead of a wrinkled old man, my shepherd was middle aged—good looking, to boot.   And while he wore a sort of robe,…