Grace in a Strip Bar
Being a friend of sinners with discernment and love. Jesus was and is a friend of sinners. But it’s often difficult for us to grasp if and how we ought to follow in his footsteps. A few months ago,...
View ArticleThe Missing Voice in the Adoption Conversation
How our language would change if we heard more from adoptees. November is National Adoption Month. Along with church observations of Orphan Sunday and the newly founded World Adoption Day, this is a...
View ArticleOur Bodies Were Made for You, O Lord
We’ve been designed, right down to the DNA, to love and serve our maker. If Psalm 139 were published as a contemporary book, it might look a lot like Rob Moll’s What Your Body Knows About God: How We...
View ArticleA Decision in Ferguson: How Should Evangelicals Respond?
The grand jury has made a decision in Ferguson, now we have to make ours. How will we respond? In light of the grand jury decision handed down tonight in in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in...
View ArticleWaiting on Thankfulness
How God works in us during times when we can’t muster gratitude. We’d been home for months when this curious stranger approached me with eyes full of questions. “Where are they from?” and “Are they...
View ArticleThis Odd American Holiday
What the strange beauty of Thanksgiving has taught us about dependence It strikes me as both odd and beautiful that America—this nation of fiercely independent citizens—slows down to give corporate...
View ArticleAmerica the Beautiful, America the Violent
Ferguson may be about race, but it is also about violence. And we should have something to say about both. Let me be clear: I believe that Ferguson is about race. I know that many people disagree with...
View ArticleAmerica the Beautiful, America the Violent
Ferguson may be about race, but it is also about violence. And we should have something to say about both. Let me be clear: I believe that Ferguson is about race. I know that many people disagree with...
View ArticleThanks For the Shibboleth
It’s a ‘West Wing’ episode worth revisiting on Thanksgiving. I saw it for the first time just last month, so I can't exactly call it a “tradition,” but if I had a Thanksgiving-watching tradition other...
View ArticleFull Bellies, Thankful Hearts
God designed your stomach and your heart to be intimately connected. “Eat your food!” That’s what many of us were told as children. “There are starving children in Africa.” It turns out, however, that...
View ArticleStockpiling Treasures in My Junk Closet
How I got rid of 1,000 things and finally found shalom. Show me a Real Simple magazine article on “decluttering your home” and all I see is a stack of shiny pages to decoupage Christmas ornaments over...
View ArticleAlready Friends of God
It’s not as if we have to work at it. In some Christian circles, it is often said that everyone should have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that everyone should ask Jesus into his heart. These...
View ArticleBearing The World’s Burdens
What are we to make of the horrific events of 2014? It’s difficult to prove that 2014 has been worse than other years, but it sure feels that way. The Syrian Civil War claimed another 30,000 victims...
View ArticleThe Weight of Ferguson, ISIS, and Boko Haram
How we bear, sometimes joyfully, the burdens of 2014. It’s difficult to prove that 2014 has been worse than other years, but it sure feels that way. The Syrian Civil War claimed another 30,000 victims...
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