BLOG

I'm reaching out with something a bit special — an invitation to join me on a reflective journey called Deep Calls to Deep.
Who can stand before this cosmically-sized love without being completely transformed?
Either way, you will ultimately face then refiner’s fire.
The problem is that Hell is never once mentioned in the Bible.
When you are confronted with the reality of an undeserved kindness, it can be transformative.
The word wrath isn’t an unloading of God’s fury and rage on the unrepentant.
The judgment of God is simply giving a person what they have freely chosen.
We have only ever been alienated from God in our minds.
I was told that I needed to be saved from my sins so that I wouldn’t go to Hell when I die.
The idea of burning in Hell for eternity is utterly inconsistent with a God that we are told looks exactly like Jesus.
We are not being saved from something, but saved into something.
The love of God is radically offensive to those who do not understand it.
So what exactly is the good news?
God has unconditionally and preemptively forgiven all people, all people, all people, for all time.
There are many people who struggle to understand a God who unconditionally and preemptively forgives everyone.
The forgiveness of God is unconditional and preemptive.
Where O Light are you in this darkness?
'Love your enemies' ought to be sufficient.
There are still Christians who go to extraordinary lengths to nuance the words of Jesus on violence.
Joy is an ever-present reality to which we open wide our souls to receive, but it is also a remembering and a longing.
All you have to do is walk outside and take a deep breath and accept the invitation.
Words and experience can only take us so far and that destination is painfully and woefully short of God's love-essence.
In my experience, the only place where the superficial veneer is stripped away, where pretense is obliterated, where cosmetic application fails, and where vulnerability is unmasked and triumphantly exposed... is in the presence of a loving, non-judgmental, other-centered group of trusted friends.
It doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you are on- This country is not your hope. This political system is not your hope. This government is not your hope.
There is an ever-present reality into which we can enter, a realm into which we are continually invited, where love wholly embraces, mends broken-hearts, births a new way of living, gives eyes to see people and the world differently, and changes each one of us in such a profound way that thanksgiving becomes the very essence of our being, and the perpetual outflow of our spirit.
How ought Christians view politics and the government in light of the Old Testament?
There has been increasing and bewildering confusion amongst Christians as to how we ought to engage with the political system, generally, and for whom we ought to vote, specifically.
Right now our conversations are not conversations.
There has always been an overwhelming temptation for people of faith to fixate on and obsess over how we worship God, rather than focusing on how our worship ought to change us.
Is this the way life will always be? Will things ever be set right? Will there ever be peace? Will there ever be justice? Will the aching ever go away?
When a person is continually told how bad and wrong they are, they grow angry and resentful toward those they view as self-righteous and holier-than-thou.
Sometimes we need the desert to find our hearts and souls... and to remember who we are and what our purpose is. And no matter the endless circles and varied pathways we take in this desert life, the point at which they all converge is at the cross. For it is when we come to the cross that we choose to no longer go our own way.
Will we ever find joy? Will love ever prevail instead of hate and violence? Will the longings of hope ever be realized into something?
I know who I am today and I know what role I play in this life because of my mother.
There is a beautiful word, an elegant descriptor, that has been maligned, tarnished, lampooned, distorted, and completely misunderstood.
I can courageously face another day, another week, another year because I have a family ready to receive me and shower me with love and acceptance.
Our future hope does not involve us as disembodied spirits floating around in the sky.
When a loved-one in your life passes unexpectedly, everything else in the world seems to completely stop and to have very little significance.
the really tough thing is that most of us really do not like to change our view or perspective.
I asked over 100 of my friends, “What is the Good News and why does it matter?” Of the nearly 30 responses I received, all but one essentially said the same thing, “The Good News is that Jesus died for our sins and those who believe in him will be forgiven.” Is that it?