Contributors



Mychal Lemon




Mychal spent the early years of his career as a chaplain in county jails. Since then, he has served as Associate Pastor of Youth & Young Adults in a local church. Mychal received his Doctor of Ministry from Multnomah Biblical Seminary with a focus in Cross-Cultural Engagement. He enjoys seeing Jesus-themes in everyday life and hopes to help others think with a biblical lens as well.

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Jesus On-call

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                A simple beeping sound changed my whole day yesterday. I am in my car driving home from work already quite a bit later than usual. Then I hear it. The power this little beeping tone has is amazing. It makes adult pull their car over and drop anything else they might be doing. I reach to the passenger seat and pull the tiny pager out of my peacoat pocket like a scene from the late 90s. When I call the number on display, I find that there are two emergencies to be tended to. One at each major jail in the city. As the on-call chaplain this day, it is my job to respond, regardless of my regular work hours. So, I turn the car around and head back to the jail I just left. Following that stop, I made the 40-minute trip across one of the busiest freeways in the city to tend to the other emergency.                 A series of unpredicted circumstances led to me ...
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Have you taken time to admire the plants in bloom this spring? As trees, flowers, and meadows survive the year, they cycle through seasons of withering and death, followed by hydration and a fresh start. We see our favorite plants bloom and are reminded of new life evidenced by colorful blossoms, germination, and the teeming of butterflies and bumble bees. When Jesus sees the hyssop plant lifted to his lips, he knows his springtime death will bring new life to humanity. However, the life he provides for us will never wither away. Here is the scene. Jesus is on the cross at this point. He has been falsely tried in humanity’s courts, tortured within an inch of his life, and the Roman soldiers who pinned him to the cross are laughing and gambling for the very clothes they stripped off his body. Jesus uses one of his limited breaths to utter a request, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28). His disciple, John, is nearby and tells us what he sees, “A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge...
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The Severity of Sin

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“They are waiting for you.” A corrections deputy greets me with these words as I walk into one the largest housing units in our jails. Looking ahead, I see a small sea of chairs filled with inmates, all ready for the viewing. I like to believe it is not me they are waiting for, rather they are waiting to see the King.                 Leading up to Easter Sunday a request comes across my desk that men in a certain housing unit are asking to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ . After an initial stun my mind floods with thoughts that God is up to something special in our jails. To add a bit of context, we are in a region of the United States known as the “Unchurched Belt.” Our state is considered one of the least religious in the nation. General statistics may tell one story about believing and nonbelieving adults in this state, but on this day the numbers tell a different story. Roughly 50 men gather aroun...
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