Forgiving God may seem like an unusual concept in Christian theology. After all, isn’t God, who is perfect and sinless, the one who forgives us?
No shame to ask for prayer.
The thing is, it’s not like faking being sick to get out of school or work. I’ve been having to fake being well.
Another Mass Shooting, Where Do We Start? Lament.
How do we weep with those who weep when the fog of a national crisis descends?
Finding Hope In the Midst of Struggles.
I’m all about finding hope in the midst of struggles. Life is full of struggles, challenges, and difficulties that can sometimes make us feel hopeless and helpless. Whether it’s dealing with sickness, financial problems, broken relationships, or any other kind of setback, it’s easy to lose faith and feel like there’s no way out. However, […]
Embracing self-pity.
If you’re going to embrace self-pity, you might as well embrace misery. It’s a funny thing. Some people simply seem to enjoy feeling bad for themselves. Respectfully, if that’s true of you, I have a simple question: How has self-pity helped you improve your life? I get it. I do. This is one of those […]
7 life rules for 2023
It seems that some “life rules” for this new year might be in order. There’s nothing magical about these, but they seem pretty appropriate. Fact is, they’re good life rules for any year.
Lessons from the little drummer boy.
I’ll start with a confessional. Sometimes, Christmas music gets on my nerves. But before you call the grinch squad on me, I’ll explain. And I will use The Little Drummer Boy as a jumping off place.
I love Christmas carols. Love ‘em. I might listen to them year round. But some of the secular stuff can really wear thin. White Christmas? Good with that. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day? Check – I like it.
But Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree? Santa Baby? Mariah Carey? The whole Bob Dylan Christmas album, which is like some sort of surreal fever dream? No thanks, ma‘am.
Then there’s The Little Drummer Boy. More carol than secular. And for some reason I’ve done a deep dive with this one recently.
How to suffer well.
Christianity doesn’t give us a free pass out of suffering. You will suffer. I guarantee it. It’s right and proper to acknowledge you’re hurting, and hurting bad. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean your suffering will be any easier or more endurable What it does mean is that you can see your suffering as one point in a timeline that stretches out into eternity. For Christians, that means that the best is still ahead of us.
10 resolutions for mental and spiritual flourishing
Sometimes I run across something that is so meaningful, so provocative, and so timely that I simply stand back in awe. This is from a gentleman named Clyde S. Kilby, and it’s sublime.
Being whole: 7 thoughts.
What does it look like to be whole? I want to be whole. I’ve been on this kick of moving from brokenness to wholeness. You probably have recognized this. I’ve figured this out – not because I’m all that brilliant, but just because it’s self-evident. The thought is to be complete in Christ. That’s what […]
Thankfulness: A Bible study.
Thankfulness is what Thanksgiving is all about, right? And yet, when thinking about thankfulness, I’m seeing that we have to live with a certain amount of tension, of what are apparently conflicting thoughts. Thankfulness is an attitude we should grasp and hold onto. Countering that, though, is the pervasive presence of evil. How do we […]
He called me an idiot.
So. How does one move on past failure – specifically, how can you not be so hard on yourself?