Finding Joy in Winter
This is a picture from outside our front door in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. It’s winter time. I love living in Chicago for a variety of reasons. I love the city. I love the Midwest. I love the Autumn season. I love the Bears, Bulls, and Cubs. But I hate winter. Always have. People […]
If There is No Sin, There is No Grace
Be of sin, the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure – Augustus Toplady There is a hesitance, actually more like a firm resistance, to calling any behavior, “sin.” When the issue of sexual lifestyles are discussed, even evangelicals are wary of labeling any one behavior as sin. It’s the word we want to […]
Let’s Not Trade Unity for Clicks
I’m writing this post even as I’m supposed to be writing my sermon for Sunday. But there is just something God has put on my heart and so deeply convicted me about that I have to share it. A few days ago I had a conversation with a wonderful, well-known pastor in my area. He’s […]
How God Uses Relationships to Make You Better
Everyone wants to be better. Self-improvement gurus call it, well, self-improvement. Wise people and many in the church call it growth. The Bible calls this process sanctification. And for the Christian, sanctification is not merely the process by which you become a nice, better person. Pretty much all religions and even quasi-non religions do that. […]
Writing, like anything worth doing, takes work . . . and love
I’m often asked by beginning writers how to “get started” in writing. How to get published. How to get that book on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. They assume I’m an expert, which I’m most assuredly not. Nonetheless, I have been writing for a while and here is my advice: Writing takes talent, yes, […]
What We Don’t Want to Hear: Leadership Is Hard
We live in an age when distrust of leaders is, perhaps, at an all-time high. I don’t have any statistics to verify that. However, if my Facebook and Twitter feeds are a reasonable sample, if the blogs and columns and books I read are an indication, people today just don’t like the people who lead […]
What Advent is and Why We Should Celebrate
There is something really wonderful about the word, advent. When you Google the word, one of the definitions you get is: the arrival of a notable person, thing or event. We know this word from other contexts besides religions. We say things like, “Since the advent of the automobile . . . .” Or “Since […]
Evangelism as a Journey Instead of a Deal
I’ve been reading quite a few books on evangelism lately for some of my Mdiv work at Trinity. I don’t agree with all that I have read, but one of the things that I think I’m learning is the simple idea that evangelism is less of a “deal” that we must close and more of […]
Three Kinds of Christians Who Should Always Keep Their Cool
I was struck this week as I studied 1 Peter 4:7-11 as part of our Exiles series at church. I was struck particularly by this phrase: “Be self-controlled and sober-minded.” (v 4 ESV). There are differing ways translators have translated this. HCSB says “Be serious and disciplined.” NASB: “of sound judgement and sober spirit.” NLT: […]
What You Don’t Like About Your Church (And why that’s good)
I have this conversation quite often with members of my church and with believers outside of my church. It is usually sparked by a discussion of something this person doesn’t like about our church or about the church they attend. Now, let’s assume the disagreement is not related to doctrinal purity, moral integrity, authoritarian abuse (issues I […]
What We Really Should Be Teaching Our Kids
Last Thursday, during the Thanksgiving meal we hosted at our house, my son, Daniel Jr (age 4) had an epic meltdown over a superheros costume. My brother, Tim, was the recipient of much of this. After dealing with Daniel’s tantrum, we both went our way, sharing times with our family members, eating more pie, and […]
Five Responses to President Obama’s Relection
So the election is over and many evangelicals are disappointed. So now what? Here are five responses.