The problem with people is, well, people. Some of us are easier to love than others. But most of us alternate between loveable, tolerable and detestable depending on our environment. For years I have made the tongue-in-cheek joke that if you don’t love my brother Karl, there is something desperately wrong with you. My brother … More How Does Love for My Neighbor Begin?
Two years ago, I had just gotten off the phone with a brother in Christ who was a stage 4 colon cancer patient living on miracle time. He was a man learning how to pour out his heart to God (Ps. 62:8). He was also an inspiration and one week later I interviewed him in … More A Dying Friend’s Lesson in Life
“Nothing is more repulsive than a life turned inward and focused only on its own joy.” Remember: Jesus said we gain our lives by losing our lives. Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but … More Narcissism and the Pursuit of Happiness
Tuesday is for Counseling He knew he was going to die. The one task he had to do before it happened was to prepare his best friends and family for the reality of a ticking clock that would end his life within 18 hours. He knew their world would be rocked. He loved them. He … More On the Night Before He Suffered
I like the show Myth Busters. So, in honor of the show and in keeping with its spirit, here are the facts on a couple of myths often thrown at Christians. For more see: Now that is Myth-Busting! Wow!.
Just spent 20 minutes talking on the phone with a man I have never met who called up the pastor (me) of his father’s former church. He was emotional, drunk, broken, guilt ridden and longing, in the emptiness of all the choices that hollowed his life out, for a return to a more innocent time. … More “Friday Night” Party Night
Thought Provoking Meme George Orwell and Aldous Huxley had two different visions for two different futures. They gave the world a choice between 1984 or Brave New World? Which of those is a truer picture of our present? Here’s a better, truer vision and future, . . . Jesus’ return and reign.Fact: NOTHING is … More Two Visions, Two Futures.
Tuesday is for Salvation Last week I preached on Psalm 6, David’s Prayer of Personal Repentance. Discussion of repentance always brings introspection. Or it should. And that led me today to think of a slam poem my son wrote. He performed it and three others as part of a series of poems by a group … More Repentance and a Psalm of Salvation
Tuesday is for Hearing the Word We have in C.S. Lewis’s words, “a prejudice against older books.” That is a problem. Too often we cut ourselves off from the greatness of brothers and sisters who finished well and can teach us much. Here’s one of those voices from 164 years ago: (And perfectly in sync … More Everything We Believe in Submission to the Word of God
Tuesday is for Counseling: A Great New Book On Thursday, I will post an interview with Matt Mitchell, a fellow EFCA pastor from the great state of Pennsylvania. I’m not sure where Matt and I crossed paths but I have appreciated his ministry for some time. His blog, Matt-Mitchell.blogspot.com, is filled with pastoral insight and … More Coming: An Interview with the Author of a Book I Hope Becomes a Runaway Bestseller
