Three years ago, my wife Jamie and I planned a trip to Alabama to help with tornado relief. We both sensed the Lord was asking us to go even though in every way it seemed impractical. The unforeseen nature of disaster relief is that you can’t plan for it. I recall wondering how I could […]
DOUBT OF THE MIND AND DOUBT OF THE HEART
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n Scripture, it appears that there are two levels of doubt: doubt of the mind and doubt of the heart. Doubt of the Mind manifests as a simple question, “Why?,” and this is a good thing, even encouraged by Scripture. When Paul spoke in the city of Berea, the people “received the word with all […]
Loving God by Loving Others
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e use the word love frequently, often without thought. We say we love pizza from a certain pizzeria. We say we love a certain television show and take time out of our schedule to make sure we don’t miss it. We often say we love a certain holiday, such as Christmas or Easter, but often […]
What is Freedom?
Of all of the words in the English language, the word freedom is one that may be the most open to interpretation. Freedom is often identified by a defining word placed in front of it: political freedom, religious freedom, personal freedom, etc. In these contexts, freedom deals with the concept of an expression of belief […]
Raising Your Palms on Sunday
Palm leaves sway above the dusty streets of Jerusalem. The city, anxious with celebration, teems with the hope of a people undaunted by adversity— a nation of survivors promised abundance and freedom by a faithful, loving God. The people roar to a crescendo as a humble procession moves through the streets. These people, who were […]
Jesus Is
My paraphrase of the beginning of John says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was light and came into the darkness but the darkness rejected the light.” In the early chapters of John, I believe the author lays down a foundation of […]
OLD HABITS DIE HARD
“As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15). As believers, we often misread this verse. We replace the word ‘holy’ with the word ‘perfect’ and throw our hands up in defeat. C.S. Lewis says “Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose […]
What does it mean to have a Christian worldview?
The phrase “Christian Worldview” is one that is open to wide interpretation. If you think about it, there are actually as many worldviews as there are people that identify themselves as Christians. That is because all of our life experiences affect how we see our past, present and our future. A Christian worldview means recognizing […]
PEOPLE PLEASING
Imagine with me for a minute…I know, we are all mature adults here, but humor me, please? Imagine with me a first date. You are raiding your closet one, two, three times, in hopes of something magically appearing the next time you check…Like the shopping elf dropped a present into your wardrobe in the amount […]
WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS?
Often times, explaining the Gospel can be surprisingly difficult. When put on the spot for Christ, many of us become uncomfortable and cannot quite find the words to describe the faith that we have centered our lives around. Having personally encountered this unexpected reaction to the question “What is the Gospel?,” I asked several people […]