“Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so they will not be able to understand each other” (Gen 11.7). The news cycle had moved on. The Flood was a such divisive event and we couldn’t let that happen again. It was time for good news and unity. So we wandered east to Shinar. Everyone was excited to build a new world that promised to keep us all […]
I have followed Jesus for 25 years today. Knowing my spotty track record, here are 25 thoughts on the journey so far. God makes Christians (Rom 8.29-30; Phil 1.29; 1 Pt 1.3-5; Titus 3.5). God keeps me a Christian (Phil 1.6; Jude 24-25). Most days I don’t feel much farther along than the day God saved me. Many days feel like I have regressed in faith and devotion. The devil […]
I was born in October 1973. By bird-and-bees math, I was conceived (yuk!) in January 1973 when seven of nine Supreme Court justices gave birth to twins: Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. On January 22, 1973, Roe was born just minutes before Doe and abortion took its first constitutional breath. You could say we have all grown up together in the neighborhood. They have accomplished far more than […]
There is only one kind of Christian life. Every Christian shares the same calling as every other Christian because we all share one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Eph 4.1-6). God calls each of us into a particular sort of life — the Trinitarian life of humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, unity, and peace. In a word, the Trinitarian […]
“[Job] was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil”(Job 1.1) . . . “the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (1.21) . . . “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (2.10) Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God (1.22). “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am […]
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk 12.25). The Sadducees were the 1st-century version of the 21st-century liberals. They denied all things supernatural, especially any notion of bodily resurrection from the dead (cf. Mt 3.7; 16.1, 11-12; 22.23, 34; Lk 20.27; Acts 4.1-2; 5.17; 23.6-8). Sola Torah (Torah alone) was their creed. They didn’t believe anything […]
“We live in a culture that has replaced soul with self. This reduction turns people into either problems or consumers. Insofar as we acquiesce in that replacement, we gradually but surely regress in our identity, for we end up thinking of ourselves and dealing with others in marketplace terms: everyone we meet is either a potential recruit to join our enterprise or a potential consumer for what we are selling; […]
You recognize smooth talk when you hear it. Sometimes it’s too late, though, after you’ve set your heart on what you’ve heard. By then you’ve likely given away something you never thought you would. Smooth talk is a grifter. Thievery’s chiseled but sinister cousin. Always cutting the corner as he pickpockets his way out of town. He was good. Too good. He said just enough but never quite enough. He […]
Today is Juneteenth (a.k.a. June 19th). Texas introduced me to Juneteenth during a pastoral stretch in the Republic. I am thankful to reflect on its significance today especially living in one of the more racist regions of the country. A region that has done its fair share of infecting my own heart as well. Abraham Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. He ordered the freedom of all […]
“Wisdom is with aged men, with long life is understanding” (Job 12.12). Father’s Day in 2013 meant church with Dad. Church with Dad meant a morning spent with the men of Adult 7. (For all you hipster pub types, that’s how churches named Sunday School classes before there were small groups, cell groups, community groups, life groups, and missional communities). I thought I was doing Dad a solid by flanking him in […]