You ever have something you want to say, but you know you probably shouldn’t? I know the feeling. Truth be told, I’ve written this blog post a dozen times, and never hit “Publish.” Why? Well, it’s pretty simple. See, right or wrong, when you spend enough time around churches and Christians, you start to get…
What do you do when it starts raining and then it never stops? Somebody asked me that question yesterday. I was sitting across the table as this friend poured out the details of some really difficult things that are going on in his family right now. Really difficult things that I honestly can’t understand or…
Each of us experiences moments where we feel like God has forgotten about it, or failed to show up in a time of need or desperation. When life doesn’t go the way we planned, our gut reaction is to blame God for not coming through. When we pray for God to save or protect us…
Christmas is complicated. It’s busy. And especially if you’ve had an unexpected experience this past year that brought pain in your life, it can be really difficult to understand how it’s even possible to experience joy this time of year. This past Sunday, we kicked off our Christmas teaching series at First Christian Church. We…
I’ll bet that if you and I were to sit down over coffee and I asked you if anything is worrying you or stressing you out, you’d be able to rattle off a handful of things without even thinking about it. I could too. There are a few things I’ve lost more than a little sleep…
I know a guy, a pretty young guy, who is battling cancer. And the cancer is winning. I know a lot of people who have battled cancer, but something is different about this one particular guy I know, even though I can’t explain what it is. I don’t even really know him well, but I haven’t been…
I don’t know if you’re like me, but whenever I read the Bible I look for the hidden truths. I’m always looking for the part I might have missed at first glance. I was reading a story Jesus told in Luke chapter 15 last week and had one of those moments. “If a man has a hundred…
This is not a post about ISIS. I know the title would suggest differently, but this post isn’t about ISIS and it’s not about politics. See, I’ve been reading a lot about ISIS, and often when I read an article online I check out some of the reader comments below. I’ve read so many comments full…
Maybe I’m not supposed to say this because I’m a pastor, but I’ve never questioned my faith more than I have in the past 18 months. I’ve never doubted God. Not His existence, not His love, not His presence. But I have done a lot of asking, searching, and chasing after answers to some tough questions…
Last weekend I had the privilege of speaking at First Christian Church. It was the third installment in a series called “Pursued,” all about realizing that God doesn’t give up on us, and He doesn’t chase us to punish us, but He pursues us because He loves us. A few of my favorite quotes/thoughts: “Sin…
