Recently, influencer Carlos Whittaker posted on Instagram that rage is a drug, and your phone is the needle. If that’s so, what is the cure? Of course, Whittaker doesn’t mean just your phone, but whatever device you use to consume media, and especially social media. The Christian author, blogger, speaker, and worship leader says, “If rage is filling your heart…see the means of which it is entering your soul, and remove it.” Your soul, Whittaker says, only has a certain... Read more
After a healing miracle, people said that Jesus did “all things well.” How can you develop a similar reputation for excellence? As the embodiment of living and loving Tao, Jesus demonstrated skill in everything he did. After Jesus cured a deaf man, people “were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well.” Part of Jesus’s skill was a willingness to flow with the circumstances that life presented him. In the twenty-seventh verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu... Read more
Once again, political violence has people at odds. Here’s how you can lower the temperature in conversation by speaking the truth in love. Over the past several years, political violence has increased. Reasonable people on both sides decry the use of physical violence. Yet did you ever stop to consider the spiritual and psychological violence we commit in the name of our truth? As Christians, we can’t avoid addressing the hard topics that center on justice, morality, and public life.... Read more
For those who can no longer relate to Deity in anthropomorphic terms, relating to God as Holy Spirit can help revive a floundering faith. It might sound odd to say that renaming God as “The Holy Spirit” is an innovation. As Christians, we’re so used to this divine title. Perhaps we could use a little reclaiming with the renaming. Too often, Christians fall into one of two camps regarding the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal/Charismatic side tends to overemphasize the... Read more
The food pantry was my project, my baby. I started it—but they took it over. Church conflict grew, until I realized I was the problem. Pastors aren’t immune to immense egos. In fact, sometimes we excel at developing them. Here’s what I did when I realized that, while we all had issues, I could only truly deal with my own. Five Loaves, Two Fish When I was a kid, my parents had a tabletop plaque that read, “Love is a... Read more
Marvel’s Thunderbolts* does more than set the scene for the “New Avengers.” It also highlights mental health and addiction. I’ve gotta admit—I should have watched this film in the theater. Nothing matches a Marvel movie for theatrical greatness. If you want to experience the fights, explosions, and dramatic musical score in its full glory, you must see it in the theater. But I waited until after Disney Plus’s streaming release, on August 27. It was a big mistake—but I was... Read more
Has an overdose touched your community or someone you love? Overdose Awareness Day ends the stigma and saves lives. As a pastor, I used to view substance use and its related problems through the black-and-white lens of sin-versus-righteousness. People with addiction just needed Jesus, I thought. If they hadn’t gained victory, they just hadn’t prayed or obeyed enough. When I pivoted to my second career in social services, I came to see things differently. Overdose Awareness Day August 31, 2025,... Read more
“I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery…but I’m in the Lord’s Army!” And AWANA is the bootcamp. If you grew up in the Evangelical church, no doubt you learned that song, complete with hand motions. If you missed out on that bit of Christian Nationalist propaganda, here’s a video, just for your own personal indoctrination: Militarized Religion If you raised your kids in an Evangelical church, they may have attended AWANA,... Read more
The Late James Dobson used to quote, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” On International Youth Day, love teaches better than spanking. Trigger Warning: The following article involves physical, psychological, and religious abuse of children. When I was young, my parents didn’t beat me. I wasn’t abused. I knew that I was loved. In many ways, my folks were model parents of the 1970s and 1980s. And, as Evangelicals who were the products of their times, they believed... Read more
We live in a high-pressure, commercial society that relies on making you discontent. How can you make yourself content, instead? I remember visiting an elderly widow in her home. When I knocked, she said, “Come in,” without rising to get the door. I let myself in and walked through her kitchen into her living room, where she sat with hands folded in her lap, facing a blank-screened TV. A closed book lay beside her. “Were you reading?” I asked. “No,”... Read more
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