Let’s get to it! Christianity is compelling because it’s not just a call to faith, but a call to facts—historical facts. In Luke’s letter, he writes: “Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.…
How are those resolutions going? Anyone out there brave enough to have made a list for 2021? I’ve been checking out blogs, tweets, articles, and posts on resolutions, and it got me thinking about something similar—vows. I think of resolutions as marks we set for ourselves, while vows are promises we make to God. Have…
2020. What was to be a year of vision became a year of getting blind-sided. We’ve all experienced some form of struggle and loss this year, some more than others. My family has experienced health crises after health crises this year (all non-covid related). Our little one, Jubilee, contracted a catastrophic encephalitis and remains in…
This is my first time sharing a favorite book list! And just in time for Christmas! Perhaps you’ll get a gift idea. More so, I hope you’ll find it helpful. Note: Not all books were published in 2020; nor are they all Christian. The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray Published:…
The auto-correct on my phone once tried to change the word “minister” to “monster.” Funny, yet sobering. It gave me pause. It gives me pause now. Ministry is tough. Pastoring is, at times, a monster itself. Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru and author of The Effective Executive, once shared what he believed to be…
My prayer life takes on certain patterns and themes at times. Lately, I’ve noticed specific “pleadings” surface repeatedly. God’s answered some more than others. Some barely at all. Or not at all. But I pray on. Here are 7 ways I’m pleading with God right now. Hope it serves you. Stir me. When I sit…
When my boys were younger they loved to wrestle. Sometimes in the middle of combat, I’d playfully take their hands saying, “Don’t hit yourself, don’t hit yourself.” They giggled to tears. They soon did the same thing to me! Sounds a lot like life. We “hit ourselves” or beat ourselves up over our deficiencies and…
I recently hung out with a group of musicians—two of whom are getting married in the next few months. After enjoying the damage done by Shake Shack, I was asked for advice about how to have a happy and successful marriage. The below immediately came to mind. Thought I’d share with you too. Enjoy. Have…
Plato, at his best: “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” And Solomon, at his: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion” (Proverbs 18:2). Regarding social media, I’ve fallen into the fool camp more often than I’d like to admit.…
At a leadership conference earlier this year, a presenter made a remark from the platform that was quite crude, to say the least. I won’t repeat the remarks, but it had to do with giving away his male body parts if it would grow his church. And there were women in the room. It takes…
A museum in Los Angeles, California, recently opened to celebrate failure. The displays range from the featured image above to Pabst Blue Ribbon Mac & Cheese and Colgate Beef Lasagna. It’s literally called (wait for it)… The Museum of Failure. This museum strikes a nerve. We live in a culture that mostly celebrates success, especially…
Does your life ever feel messy, chaotic, and ugly? Think of an abstract painting up-close. It looks completely disordered and unpleasant. You shake your head and say, “I don’t get it.” But step back a few feet. Get the whole perspective. And you’ll discover beauty. The point? When it comes to our lives, we’re…
We are all broken. The damage can be the result of what was self-inflicted, life-inflicted, or others-inflicted. But it makes us who we are. It’s a key part of our story. Barbara Bloom writes, “When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s…
Beware. Beware of imagining yourself at the center of drama. Beware of emotions getting the best of you. Beware of grudges. Beware of taking anything personally. Beware of dwelling upon words and actions of others and arriving at conclusions without evidence for those conclusions. Beware of ingratitude. Beware of not believing the best of others…