Unfortunately, it seems that Thanksgiving has become become the starting point of a season of self-indulgence. It begins with a meal that is often characterized by an abundance of food, generous portions, and multiple servings – and then pie. Thanksgiving Day and “Black Friday” then launch a nationwide shopping spree that won’t take a break … [Read more…]
Have you seen that video of the grandfather who received a gift of adult-sized, light-up sneakers? As he opened the shoebox, he seemed rather underwhelmed by the lime green shoes. But when the soles started flashing, he jumped in his seat and then he jumped out of his seat. “Oh! Get out of town!” he … [Read more…]
I don’t know when this distinction was first made, but for some reason, many Christians draw a line between being a Christian and being a disciple. It seems that the distinction is more a matter of degree, that being a Christian is a kind of “entry level” faith and that being a disciple is more … [Read more…]
Having been out of school for only a short while… I still find myself thinking of the calendar in terms of school years. Sure, I still have kids in school, but there’s something about the fall and the beginning of the school year that seems to be more of a “new year” than the first … [Read more…]
The more I interact with people about their faith or just spiritual things in general, the more I find the conversations focusing on what people know and what they do. Most people, when we’re talking about their faith, describe their faith by what they know about the Bible or the Quran or certain philosophies or … [Read more…]
There’s a story about Benjamin Franklin as he left the Constitutional Convention that people asked him what kind of government the delegates had developed for this new country and Franklin reportedly said, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin’s response speaks volumes in a few words. Not only had the people of the former … [Read more…]
As I write this, I can hear the low drone of the cicadas through closed windows and over the sound of the traffic. Cicadas are strange, aren’t they? It baffles me to think that the cicadas we see and hear now came from eggs that were laid 17 years ago. I suppose, as the father … [Read more…]
The recent series, “A Rebuilding Season,” seems to have struck a nerve with some people, especially myself – I suppose it’s a good idea that the preacher’s sermons would affect change at least within the preacher. And that’s the point; these sermons were not planned, written, or preached with the sole purpose of making changes … [Read more…]
Aging is a strange process. While we are young, we can’t wait to get older; when we discover we are old, we wish we were younger. It has recently come to my attention that I am getting older, more than that: I am an adult. I discovered this upon my realization that not only will … [Read more…]
Many of us who have grown up in the church or who have attended a church for a while probably have a list of expectations about what “church” ought to be like – how we worship, how we teach or preach, how we make disciples, how we are organized, and so on. For many of … [Read more…]