All Hallows Eve (aka Halloween) is a very popular and well know holiday. It’s a big business too with a market that generates more revenue that every other American holiday than Christmas (sorry Easter Bunny you are second to pumpkins and candy). The ironing is that...
I woke up one morning recently at 5 am after a long season of fasting. These words literally hit me as I lay there in the dark. I could barely write them down fast enough as I fumbled to find something to write on. Later that morning I cleaned them up a bit at the...
It’s important to start this piece with a few disclaimers. It’s a bit hypocritical that I would write about therapy since I’ve been in therapy for the better part of my 28 years of marriage and more than half of my life. One time I tried to count all the therapists...
I sinned yesterday. Sounds pretty simple and probably expected. Happens every day, right? But I can't say that I confess my sins every day. And as I was confessing this particular sin, I realized something pretty significant. I realized that I sin a lot after I sin....
My daughter Gracie can be pretty blunt and honest sometimes. If I got a bad haircut or my shirt doesn’t match my pants she doesn’t hesitate to let me know. If she tells me that I’m being too dramatic, I listen, even at times when I disagree with her perspective and...
When I’ve sinned, made a huge mistake and feel guilty, even ashamed…my first inclination is probably not to go into a wooden box the size of a phone booth and spill my guts to a stranger dressed in black on the other side of a dark veil. Yes, it sounds comical to me...
When something is ‘normal’ and feels expected we don’t question it much. It doesn’t strike us as odd or out of place. This is where our culture and the worldviews around us can sometimes create blind spots. I’ve learned a lot about my blindspots from my Pastor Dustin...
This is Part 2 of 3 in a series of posts. To read “How has God shown me a world outside my individualism?” (Part 1 of 3) click here. I’ve got a lot more to learn about *isms. But, these three seem especially pertinent to me: Individualism, Consumerism, and...
This is Part 3 of 3 in a series of posts. To read “How has God shown me a world outside my individualism? (Part 1 of 3) click here. To read “How has God shown me a world outside my consumerism? (Part 2 of 3) click here. I’ve got a lot more to learn about *isms. But,...
I was talking to one of my good, Muslim friends this morning. Today is a major Muslim celebration called the Eid al Abha. Since he knows I am a novice he explained that it is the celebration to recognize the sacrificial lamb provided to Abraham to save his son...
I saw beautiful rainbow one time. The pictures definitely didn’t do it justice. It made me think about all the symbols for God‘s covenants in our lives. The rainbow was the first sign of the first covenant that God gave us (via Noah). I tried to take a crack at the...
When someone asks how I am doing, I respond often without even thinking, and with a very expected response. This is true in our culture. I reply by offering a quick assessment of circumstances in my life. I often give a rundown of other family members and what they’ve...