Does James suggest that the trails of life are to be seen as “gifts” from God? That they are to be converted from trial into “catacombs” of conversion? Notice these words and read them in the context of James 1:2-4: 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of... Read more
I sat down the other day with a youth pastor and asked a direct question that I’ve asked a number of youth leaders: “What percentage of your youth become adult, mature Christians?” His response: “You want the truth?” I said, “Of course.” His answer: “About 25%.” We both sat there, fumbling our coffee cups, looking at one another, nothing said and nothing to be said. In grief and wonder we searched for what we might do together to change the... Read more
I am currently reading a book by Peter Bouteneff, a theology professor at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, entitled Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives. This book explores the use of the creation narratives in Second Temple Judaism (ca. 200 BCE to 100 CE), in the New Testament, and in the writings of the early church fathers through the first four centuries of the church. This is a fascinating book – a bit academic, but not too... Read more
May no dreams disturb our rest and no nightmares darken our dreams. May no fears or worries delay our willing, prompt repose. May the virtue of our daily work hallow our nightly prayers. May our sleep be deep and soft so our work be fresh and hard. Read more
Kris and I had never been to Lubbock TX, and one friend wrote to me that it resembles lunar landscape. We did see tumbleweed and we heard reports of a dust storm, but overall we thought Lubbock was a delightful place to be. We had two long walks through some neighborhoods and the people at the Zoe Conference at Monterey Church of Christ were nothing short of extraordinary. Barry Stephens, the preacher at Monterey, and the ever-present Eric Noah-Wilson of... Read more
James 1: 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. Those who encounter particularly challenging circumstances, as these poor messianists were, are tempted to call into question the fundamental goodness of God. In fact, many... Read more
I recently read an article about trust and took The Trust Test. This article raised all sorts of flags of recognition for me as a ministry spouse. The article points to many common pitfalls of not listening to our inner trust-o-meter when we should. Like it or not, there are many times when the people of God put you into trust-o-meter situations, but often ministry spouses have either turned off their meter, are in denial, or do not feel you... Read more
Mark Galli, senior managing editor at Christianity Today, has just responded to Michael Spencer’s (iMonk) colossal prediction of the imminent collapse of evangelicalism. I’d like to shift this conversation a bit to two other questions to see if we might further the conversation a bit. Who are the evangelicals and what makes up an evangelical? (For Michael’s opening salvo, see below.) I’m confident Galli and I are on the same page here. David Bebbington’s book that details the four features... Read more
What did you think of the pairings? Who will win? Read more
What do you think of the new changes at Facebook? Read more
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