Photo by Jonathan Andrew from PexelsThe natural reaction when someone deters from the prescribed path you have imagined for them is to become dismissive or try to attach a label to them so it make sense. I do it — we all do it — I did it yesterday watching football. Typical assignments for those in deconstruction are “they’re on a slippery slope, they hate the church, they just don’t get it, they just need Jesus, they must have some... Read more
(an exert from my book, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity) In our communities, we want people who will identify with us and sometimes even advocate for us. Occasionally, we hope they will encourage us when we are down and give us some well-timed advice when we are messing up. We want to feel like we are cared for. When we are tired, we hope someone will carry the ball—when we are motivated, we like to have someone that... Read more
If you want a pretty good summary about this topic see Skye Jethani’s video “Is There Really a War on Christmas?” His favorite things to say is “Which war on Christmas?” In the United States the first war on Christmas was when early Americans, the Puritans, objected to celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. Early Christians didn’t celebrate the birth of Christ and by 1855 only half of the states even recognized the holiday as most Christians... Read more
Around March 22nd, my new novel will be be released, called The Hotel. I’ve always wanted to do this and I finally did it! I heard an author promote his masterclass by encouraging writers to write 1000 words a day. I asked William Paul Young how to do it, and he said something like “Just get in the river and let it take you downstream.” The first few days were a little hard, but after 45 days last Winter, I... Read more
I have three grandchildren. To save some time, today I will just tell you about our oldest. She is 4 years old, quite tiny, and often shy around strangers and, especially men. She reminds me of what my parents told me about myself when I was a little boy. They said that I would hide under the table when people came over to visit. Hollyn is like that that – even with me. She occasionally does things with me, but... Read more
One small story in the podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” is the illustration about the Nachos. When Mark Driscoll is trying to illustrate how to be a good wife, he gives the example twice about how a good wife could present her husband with nachos when he comes home. It should be stated that he feels that’s where a woman should be and the man should be out conquering the world. He actively encouraged women to... Read more
About 3 years ago, I went through a dark night of the soul. 20 years of ministry and a lifetime of suppressing my feelings finally caught up with me. I was beginning to address my trauma and work on internalized shame when everything I had ever suppressed seemed to be emerging all at the same time. I described it in my book, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity. It is the part of the work that all of us... Read more
Yesterday I finished listening to the podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” Being in ministry for 20 years made it very painful to listen to. Even though my churches were on a smaller scale, I could see many of my painful memories in the stories of the people and even in the pastor’s themselves. The moment I finished the podcast I began to weep for all the people involved, not just in Mars Hill, but also in... Read more
I used to be very uncomfortable with people believing something different than me. In fact, the me of 10 years ago might have vehemently tried to change the me of today. I came from a very fundamentalist, evangelical world where we believed we were absolutely right on a number of issues. We may have been open to different styles of worship, but we weren’t even comfortable with most other evangelical forms of Christianity, so anything very different at all was... Read more
“The universe wants you to be whole”[1] Rob Bell “Even at the subatomic level, all matter is moving toward thriving, reproduction and growth.” Karl Forehand Several years ago, I started sprouting. No, I didn’t have a growth spurt in my 50’s. I learned to grow sprouts from seeds. It’s really a pretty simple process. I buy the seeds online, and then keep them wet for a few days until they produce amazing little plants that contain tons of phytonutrients and vitamins. ... Read more
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