I’m not sure if it happens in everyone else’s social media feeds or if it just happens in mine because I know a lot of pastors. Usually the phenomenon begins on Thursday afternoon and it looks something like this. “You DO NOT want to miss this SUNDAY. It is going to be LIFECHANGING.” It’s good that pastors are excited about what will be happening that Sunday and that a person’s life can be changed through it, but too often we... Read more
In some circles of Christendom, you can start a great fight by talking about Halloween. We have well-meaning brothers and sisters who point to the nefarious beginnings of Halloween and suggest that Christians who participate in Halloween activities are guilty of syncretism or worse. Whatever Halloween may have started out as, when it comes to children, Halloween is nothing more than kids walking around in costumes and asking for candy. (We can have another discussion on another day about the... Read more
Today I am working from the back porch of our house. After a long, hot Summer, it’s only 72 degrees and overcast, so today felt like an invitation to work outside. There are few places that refresh and recharge me like our backyard does. You can see two of the reasons why in the picture in this post. That Hill Its hard to tell in the picture, but the hill across from our house is beginning to show signs that... Read more
We have all been there. Sometimes prayer is just hard. The words don’t come easily and we feel like not much is happening. Here are some things to remember when prayer is difficult. Remember that Jesus’ Death Gives You An Audience with the Father It is good to remind yourself why you are able to pray in the first place. Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins and was raised from the dead. He has ascended into... Read more
This past week we were on vacation as a family. My two oldest daughters are still learning to swim and we were in the pool with both of them wearing some type of flotation device. I was playing around with my middle daughter and asked her if I could throw her up in the air and let her land in the water. She is my dare devil so she was all about it, until her head went under water for... Read more
“It has to be true, I read it on the internet” is a saying that I first heard in the late 1990’s.. At the time it was referring to email forwards and the scary tales that they included. (Don’t flash your lights at a car without its lights on, a needle that says “welcome to the world of AIDS, etc.) With the advent of social media and sharing options at the bottom of posts, sharing things that may not be... Read more
Our family is on vacation this week and it has been just what the doctor ordered for us. In a couple of quiet moments on the beach, I’ve been reading through Tom Nettles’ biography of Charles Spurgeon, Living By Revealed Truth. On October 19, 1856, he preached in the Surrey Music Hall because New Park Street Church could not hold the crowds coming to hear him. As 10,000 people crowded into the hall to hear him, someone shouted “fire!” in... Read more
Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon give us a test in their book The Art of Neighboring to help us discover whether or not we are living out the command to love our neighbor. The goal is not to induce shame, but to see if we are moving from loving our neighbor in theory to loving our neighbor in practice. Take a sheet of paper and draw nine boxes in three rows of three. Your house is the one in the... Read more
This week many Christians in Birmingham have been curiously watching the events surrounding Matt Pitt’s second arrest in the last year. Matt is the founder of The Basement, a large youth ministry centered in the city of Birmingham. Some Christians have joined the world in mocking Matt, which is the last response a believer should have. Some have claimed that he is the victim of police persecution, which is not helpful either. You can read a good synopsis of who... Read more
A few weeks ago, I posted a list of the resources that I was going to be working through to get ready for our church’s series on marriage and the family. The plan was to read through these resources quickly, but my attention has been arrested by Gary Thomas’ Sacred Marriage. There are memorable lines and important points on almost every page. To do a full book review on this would be nearly impossible at the rate that I’m taking... Read more
One Degree to Another
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