Packing up to leave Singapore. Headed for Malaysia. Have been thinking about what we’ve seen here the past several days. Was looking over some pics I took and I think I found two that tell a story. What the people of Singapore have done with God-given ingenuity– On one hand, Singapore’s cutting edge technologies, land […]
We endure application forms for credit cards, employment, life insurance, and driver’s licenses. We fill them out when applying for tax credits, college entrance, and passports. Sometimes they are required when applying for church membership. So let’s push the idea of applications to another level. Think about what it might mean to fill out papers […]
Yesterday’s post was upsetting to many of us. In some cases it shifted our focus from our agreement about Christ to disagreements among ourselves–or with “Charles”– over our relationship to Old Testament law. In retrospect, we don’t know what’s going on in “Charles” heart. He could be a brother who believes in Christ while being […]
Overnight we got a tongue-in-cheek comment/question from a friend in the UK. It came in the form of a fairly long note, but raises an important question. So I’m going to copy the comment here, break it after a few lines, and then let you read and respond to the rest of the comment. The […]
The Olympic trials have gotten under my skin. Love watching the exhilaration of those who win a ticket to Beijing. Hate seeing the disappointment of those who lose a coveted spot on their national team by a few points, an untimely injury, or some other twist of fate. Keep thinking about how much these athletes […]
Memories can haunt us. I was listening to a story on NPR’s StoryCorp recently and heard a tender conversation between an aged father who told his adult son that, all of his life, he regretted a moment when he had abusively beaten him in a moment of frustration. The son was moved by his father’s […]
Is there a difference between being born into the family of God and becoming a disciple (student) of Jesus? Or are these just two different ways of describing what it means to come into the family and kingdom of God? The way we answer this question will determine how we interpret the New Testament, and […]
An article in the New York Times says that “People-watching is to New York City what vista-gazing is to the Grand Canyon.” It suggests riding a subway from one end to the other to… “Watch the ethnicities change, and the reading material – from Bibles to library studies textbooks to ethnic newspapers. Are the smilers […]
If I could write an open letter to some of the friends I’ve had who didn’t buy my reasons for faith in Christ, I think I would imagine them as a person I’ll call Aaron and write something like this. “Dear Aaron, I hope you are doing well. I miss our conversations. Even more, I […]
Jesus said that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move trees and even mountains (Luke 17:5; Mark 11:22-23). His implication seems to be that the quantity of our faith is not as important as its quality. So how then can we be sure that we are putting our trust […]
