“The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.” – Fyoder Dostoevsky I’m reading some Russian classics this summer, and was recently reminded of this quote, one of my favorites. Our friend Fyoder has put his finger on a great deception. Many of us have romantic notions about our love for humanity. We grieve over what we see in the world – Palestinians and Israelis in conflict, earthquake victims remaining homeless in Haiti, families suffering... Read more
I just finished a week of ministry at Forest Home, a marvelous ministry in Southern California that shares Christ with thousands of families each year. I love these weeks of itinerant teaching; , sharing meals, and talking about family life, church life, and ministry with people from all over Southern California and Arizona. This is the kind of ministry that I did for years before settling in to life in Seattle as the pastor of Bethany Community Church. There was... Read more
Tuesday, 3:30 PM, Forest Falls, California, by the side of the swimming pool. I’m spending an hour lazing in the sun, making up for the last three hundred days in the raincity. It’s glorious. When I’m warm I dive in, and then lay down again, reading and chatting with guests until I’m dry, and then I dive in again. This is ministry? Yes. I’m teaching this week, but am happy to report that I’m learning as well. This is a... Read more
I’m dropping this quick line from a borrowed computer to let you know that I won’t be able to post much this week, nor will be moderating comments. I’m in the mountains east or Los Angeles, speaking a conference, and will be flying home Saturday. Already though, a lot has happened: 1. My rental car, thanks to my administrative assistant, is a convertable Smart Car! I’d never driven a convertable in my life until yesterday. What was I thinking? This... Read more
It’s been quite a week. Having driven my oldest to the airport last week for her move to Europe to teach for “awhile” (she’s ambiguous, just like Jesus), I drove my youngest to the airport this week. She’s visiting friends in Germany now, and will take a train to Austria on Sunday, where she’ll begin the five week “Upward Bound” program. The program is precious to my wife and I because we ran a sister program in the Cascades during... Read more
I’ve been approached for two weeks in the past three after speaking in my church, with specific questions from people about the age of the earth. They want to pin me down on whether the earth is 6000 years old, or six billion years old, and the ones doing the pinning are convinced they know the right answer. I’ve studied young and old earth theories, and the gap theory, and have come to the conclusion that God wasn’t trying to... Read more
Last night my wife and I were home alone for the first time in quite some time. We ate in our backyard, which has grown to be a forest over the 15 years we’ve been in Seattle. With steaks, mushrooms, green beans, grilled onions, and a bottle of wine, we ate together. We spoke of the past weeks; graduations, kids moving home, kids moving out. We spoke of the future, of our marriage, of growing older. The sun sets through... Read more
Last night my wife and I were home alone for the first time in quite some time. We ate in our backyard, which has grown to be a forest over the 15 years we’ve been in Seattle. With steaks, mushrooms, green beans, grilled onions, and a bottle of wine, we ate together. We spoke of the past weeks; graduations, kids moving home, kids moving out. We spoke of the future, of our marriage, of growing older. The sun sets through... Read more
If you’re an American and you care about the World Cup at all, you know about the third goal in our game last Friday; the non-goal; the disallowed goal. The blown call has the whole soccer world up in arms because it was such an obvious breach of justice. The ref’s Wiki page was defaced within minutes of the blown call, and there has even been a revival of discussions about the use of video replay in soccer, because it’s... Read more
This coming Sunday, as we begin a new series at my church, I’ll be sharing about the tension between being sojourners and settling down. Adopted, itinerant, and always looking beyond the horizon, I feel as if it’s taken my whole life to learn the value staying, and continuity, and place. Now, just as I’m starting to get it, my oldest daughter is leaving, moving to Europe for “awhile”, in response to God’s call on her life. Ironic isn’t it? I’m... Read more
Fibonacci Faith: Changing Everything
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