Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
I received a call from a Census Bureau worker the other day. She thanked me for returning the census form and asked if I’d mind answering a few followup questions. I agreed. We talked a couple of minutes, then she briefly broke from the script. As I recall, she said, “Sir, I’d just like to …
A competent wife, how does one find her?… Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. – Proverbs 31:10a, 30 You can bet that when a man starts a conversation with, “I don’t mean to sound sexist, but…”, he will indeed sound sexist. Once he does, there’s no easy …
One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, returned and praised God with a loud voice. – Luke 17:15 In Jesus’ encounter with ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), Luke says the lepers “kept their distance” from him. Thus is the earliest reference to social distancing. And from that distance, they cry out for …
Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people… Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:5-7 I’m writing …
With protests against COVID-19 restrictions popping up around the country, I’m wondering if we’re not seeing a display of a new kind of fundamentalism. Christian fundamentalists, a sliver of believers, have been around a long time. They derive their name from adhering to five fundamentals of the faith. Their resulting version of Christianity comes across …
On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were surprised. “Where did this man get all this? What’s this wisdom he’s been given? What about the powerful acts accomplished through him? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t he Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his …
They were saying to each other, “Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” – Mark 16:3 The women going to anoint Jesus’ body after the Crucifixion should have planned better. Wouldn’t they have thought, before leaving, about the stone being a problem? Maybe they didn’t plan because nobody thinks clearly …
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. — John 3:16 The first time I cried as a parent was when my son began his first-grade career. There was just something heartbreaking seeing him climb up those steps …
Yesterday I had to get out of the house. The walls were closing in. Every time I thought about doing something normal, I remembered I couldn’t do it because we’re all sheltering in place. Every news source imaginable reminds us of how serious things are. Even our president struck a somber tone as he made …
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. – 1 John 4:18a I was about six when my dad and I took an overnight train to Chicago. It was high adventure for me. We were in a sleeping car, with fold-out-from-the-wall bunk beds. I was in the upper, and dad in the lower. In the middle …