Our Just Deserves
Every couple of weeks I receive an envelope inside is a pay stub. A worthless piece of paper. I can’t take it to the bank and cash it. But it…
Love Doesn’t Keep Score
When my wife Tina and I were first engaged, we continued the tradition of playing games that we’d enjoyed in our respective families while growing up. On one of our…
God Has Plans
Theology students are taught that context is king when understanding the Bible. Generally, a verse must be understood by its near context, book or section context, and the overarching context…
Stumbling in Shadowlands
There are times in our lives when we walk in Shadowlands. Times when we feel vulnerable and alone. Times when justice, fairness, and rightness, seem corrupt. Days when we feel…
Love is Not Jealous
Love is not Jealous. It was Shakespeare who turned jealousy into a “Green-eyed monster,” although he may have borrowed an idea from the ancient Greeks. Whatever its color, jealousy is…
All-Stars: Something New
In this forum, I rarely write about the all-star verses of scripture. Those gems which ring with meaning have often been the topic of teaching, sermons, and songs. But for…
The Frugality of God
Call this one of those “wait, what?!” moments. In John 6:1-14 is the familiar account of Jesus feeding the five thousand-plus crowd with just a few barley loaves and two…
Inheriting a Blessing
A wise warning is to be heard in “Don’t put the cart before the horse.” It’s a phrase from a different era, one before motorized transport. And yet one that…
A House of Prayer
The first event after the hosannas of Jesus entering Jerusalem was the cleansing of the temple. Mark records it this way – “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered…
Untouchables
Girls have cooties. Well, they did have cooties when I was on the brink of adolescence. Since cooties may not be an internationally known phenomena, I’d better explain. “Cooties” is…
Adam, Where Are You?
97…98…99…100…Ready or not here I come. We’ve all probably played the childhood game of hide and seek. Trying to remain still and quiet so that we would not be found.…
Leaning on Grace
As I look at my personal arc of faith from youth to where I am today, there are some amazing changes. Even a few things I wish my older self…