Hey Everyone… I’m in Honduras this week. Sorting Green Coffee I’m writing you today from the top of a mountain. The temperature is great it’s not hot or cold. It’s T-Shirt weather while the sun is up, and sweater weather at night. It’s beautiful and so nice to be away from the sound of traffic. I’m working with Honduran coffee grown on the slopes of the San Matias mountains.To learn about what I’m doing please check outhttp://coffeeambassadors.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-from-rancho-ebenezer.html I’d post more, but... Read more

When I was first beginning to seriously explore my faith in my teens I remember talking to a good friend of mine about the after-life. We were talking about how there were to be no more tears in heaven, because all pain would be taken away (Revelation 21:4). This idea concerned me. I had trouble understanding how someone could live with no pain in heaven if they lived through a life filled with pain. My friend said, “well that’s easy,... Read more

This story is from http://www.jesusorsquirrel.com/  Have you ever told a white lie to make others think better of you? Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church Ladies’ Group in Tuscaloosa, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix & quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack up for Scout camp.... Read more

This week I attended a lecture by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware in which he gave one of the best definitions of prayer I have ever heard. He told it in the form of a story that he had heard as a child of only ten years old. In this story a man goes to a church for a long time every day and spends time in the sanctuary. After this practice continues for some time his friends confront him and ask.... Read more

This week I read an interesting article by George Pixley and Clodovis Boff called “The Option for the Poor in the Old Testament”. It was part of a collection of essays in the book Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World. In this essay Pixley and Boff look to see how the story of the Exodus. They are interested in finding ways that this ancient story can find contemporary resonance, and seek to address how the... Read more

Here is a list of the top 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century by William J. Peterson They are listed by publication and decade, not in order of importance, so they are listed in order from 1899 through 1995. How many have you read? 1. In His Steps by Charles Sheldon2. The Evangelization of the World in This Generation by John R. Mott3. Quiet Talks on Power by S.D. Gordon4. Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington5. The Crises... Read more

Last Friday I went to a solitude retreat just outside of Chicago. From 9am to 9pm I prayed in silence. This was a new experience for me, and a challenge. I have difficulty with silence, although I know I need it sometimes, I chafe under it. I have a tendency to “go” all the time. I feel if I’m not muli-tasking I’m wasting my life. When I do cook I have books being read to me on my kindle, when... Read more

One of my blogger friends just posted this video… What do you think? Does he get the Protestant position right? (It’s not mine, but I’m a Protestant) What do you think of the Orthodox position? How do you think we are saved, if you think we need saving at all? Read more

As a seminarian I often have to read hundreds of writing pages a day. This has resulted in me developing a method of reading for meaning that has made it so that no matter what I am reading I often don’t savor what has been said, or even fully digest it. This drives my wife crazy because there are sometimes that she may write me an E-Mail or read me a note with important details that I simply don’t process... Read more

There are many examples of spiritual hunger in our world today. People are connecting with their own “spirituality” in all aspects of life. From what they read (spiritual books are one of the few growing segments of the market) to how they workout (practices like yoga find their roots in eastern spirituality). This is a result of the fragmenting of the human person. Society has moved away from communities and families of love and mutual dependence to  individualistically centered materialism.... Read more