The Shape of the Gospel
A friend of mine once told me that the Christian life is a series of life, death, and resurrection stories. Things start off well enough, then get really bad before ending up in a better place than when you started. The shape of life looks something like this: This theme shows up again and again…
Mortgaged Heart
As my wife and I dabble in house hunting, I have been intrigued by concept of a mortgage. When someone takes a mortgage out on a house, the buyer puts a certain percentage down on the house, say 10%, then the bank offers a loan for the remaining 90%, which is then paid off over…
Is God Like a Surgeon or Sadist?
I have been reflecting on suffering lately, and what follows are some thoughts on how God might use the hard things in our lives. I won’t address why we suffer, since there could be hundreds of reasons why. Rather, I’ll focus on what God could be doing in us through suffering. Imagine you had an…
Climbing after Christ
In November I was in Colorado Springs, and a friend suggested that I hike “The Incline”, which is a flight of stairs that goes all the way up a mountain. When hiking you gain 2000 ft. of altitude in a mile, so really steep. As I made my way up the mountain, lungs and legs…
Ghosts of My Mind
Although I am free and forgiven from all of my sins, I’m still haunted by ghosts of past failures. Memories of my mistakes come to my mind with images so real I swear that they’re standing right in front of me. Is it because of shame or regret? A desire for what once was? I…
Fish out of Water
When I was on a boat last weekend I saw a fish washed up on shore, flopping around and gasping for breath. It was the strangest thing, it seemed as if he could have flopped back into the water, but instead he went away from the water and towards a Chipotle burrito that someone leftover…
Great Faith?
It’s not the size of our faith that matters, but it is much more important who or what you put your faith in. Let me explain by way of a story. There are two men who need to get across a great divide, say the Grand Canyon. Each man gets to pick one animal to…
Dad, I’m Done!
Full disclosure: This post contains relatively explicit references to fecal material.. Sorry, not sorry. “But God sent his son… to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons/daughters. And because you are sons/daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no…
Cultural Eulogy 