Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Brett McCraken, in Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community states, “to be a Christian is to accept the discomfort of a way of life inspired and empowered by a…
This weekend marked the end of the season for my beloved Kentucky Wildcats. I love watching UK basketball and it was sad to see them lose to the Auburn Tigers. The loss, however, was much easier to take when I heard Duke also lost. A bit of balance was restored to the universe. When I…
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash Here’s a short word from Timothy Keller on Christians friendships: Christian friends are not only to honestly confess their own sins to each other (James 5:16), but they are to lovingly point out their friend’s sins if he or she is blind to them (Romans 15:14). You should give your Christian friends…
Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash I love that quote from Woody Allen. It’s raw, honest, and all-too-familiar for a lot of people. And yet, we know there are instances that if we choose not to say something we’re not loving the person, but rather loving ourselves. That is a sobering thought. Too often an individual errs on…
Before I preach on Sunday’s, I pray. More often than not, I pray that the Spirit would give us eyes to see great and glorious truths in the Bible and then live in light of what we’ve seen. That is, I do not aim in my preaching to merely help our congregation gain intellectual weight.…
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash I’m utterly convinced that if pastors spent more time reading about biblical, effective leadership and spent the hard-work of ascertaining their leadership strengths and weaknesses rather than hours pouring over theological writings we would have many more healthy churches. Right now you might be tempted to think I’m discounting or trivializing theology.…
I have dear friends that are not Christians. The greatest, most on-going pain in my life is the reality that there are people that I love, family members and friends who are in many ways even closer than family, who reject Christ. I have spent hours with them trying to point them toward Christ. Dinners…
Over the weekend my family took the chance to go to our local movie theater and watch Captain Marvel. Another family joined us with their kids and sat a row in front of us. We bought our usual popcorn and two drinks and made our way into the theater (30 minutes early because I love…
Just this month, my oldest daughter (who is 8) went to an event where an altar call was given and afterwards said she wanted to give her life to Jesus. Just a week later, our second oldest (who is 5) told us that she wanted to ask Jesus to come into her heart. Should I…
Photo by Callum Chapman on Unsplash The book of Jonah is a good reminder to obey and trust God. But how often do we read it and still think we’re not like Jonah? I mean, he literally attempted to run from God, traveling the opposite direction God told him to go. We laugh when we read that because…
Theology Along the Way 