I have never served in the military. However, I have the utmost respect and gratitude for those who put their lives on the line for our nation’s freedom. We owe a great debt to our veterans and active-duty servicemen and women. Brandon, my best friend growing up, is one example. After the September 11, 2001 …
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Lincoln’s Inbox
Travel back in time to 1861. You are a dinner guest of President Abraham Lincoln. After the main course, President Lincoln asks you to describe how people communicate in the future. You decide to tell him about email, but how? He has never seen a computer, clicked a mouse, or opened a web browser. Email …
The Impossible Calling of Love
Remember when the lawyer asked Jesus what was the most important law? After declaring “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” Jesus declares the second part of the Great Commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). The implication …
Upon Me?
In Luke 4, Jesus visits the synagogue. According to tradition, a man in the congregation would read scripture and then explain it. So it came as no surprise when Jesus took out a scroll and read from Isaiah 61. The surprise came after he read. Luke 4:17-21 records it this way: 17 And the scroll …
What is the Age-Requirement For Preaching?
It’s a strange question, isn’t it? In everything else in life, we put age requirements on areas of great responsibility (driving, voting, military service, etc). However, this pattern doesn’t seem to apply in the church. When a seven-year-old professes a “call” to preach in front of his local congregation, nobody questions it -as if a …
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Fake Fruit
I remember walking into my mother’s kitchen, picking up the plush red apple, and taking a bite. The bite marks are still there -in my mother’s plastic apple . To this day, it sits in a bowl on mom’s kitchen counter with other decorative plastic fruit. Looking back, the experience is comical. But it is …
Peace in the Difficult Times
I was recently speaking wth a friend about some stressful situations I had encountered through my work over the past years. It was refreshing to speak of the stress in the past tense, rather than present. Looking back, I’m greatful for the stressful experiences. However, at the time, it felt like more than I could …
Snow Day Reflections
It was a snow day. School was out and the office was closed. Bryce and his buddy from down the street were busy playing in his room. I was just settling into the second chapter of a good book when I heard whispering. “Don’t tell my dad what we did.” Classic six-year-old mistake, right? First, …
More Than Forgiveness
I love the way John Stott describes the great exchange we have in Christ. “When we are united to Christ a mysterious exchange takes place: he took our curse, so that we may receive his blessing; he became sin with our sin, so that we may become righteous with his righteousness.” (Stott: The Cross of …
Practice Public Prayer
Growing up in Church, I remember questioning the need for public prayer. After all, didn’t Jesus tell us to go into our closets to pray? And what about His critique of the Pharisees who loved to stand and pray loudly for show? It turns out, however, that Jesus is not against public prayers –He’s simply …