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I'm reaching out with something a bit special — an invitation to join me on a reflective journey called Deep Calls to Deep.
The last couple of weeks have been a huge reminder to me that there is still more goodness in this world than bad.
It is always the transformation of the smallest part that leads to the transformation of the whole. 
We groan and cry out in this painful life experience together. 
The cold, hard fact is that there are prayers that God does not answer.
If we were really serious about picking up our crosses daily and becoming servants of all, racial reconciliation would be one of the most essential tasks of the white Christian.
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.
Should we pray for the president?
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 most misunderstood word in all of Christianity.
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?
You may not trust these words now, but there is hope in your pain and suffering.
God, I am done with you.
"Thoughts and prayers" are devoid of meaning, of value, of consequence, of participation, of action, of change.
We live in an age in which stimulation and consumption are all too normal in our lives.
All you have to do is walk outside and take a deep breath and accept the invitation.
The Good News of the Kingdom of God is not one of the many things.  It is the thing.
I'm not sure how to describe the feelings that go beyond heartbroken and devastated. Honest to God, I don't.
Our house church lost a beautiful young man, Abbott Forrester Garn, this week. His family has been an intimate part of our lives for the last decade. I offered these words at the funeral in the midst of the tragedy.
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.
Our heads told us that this was the right decision, but nothing told our hearts to prepare for being wrecked.
That is the great casualty of this life- we have become disconnected from this great embrace and allowed ourselves to be separated from the source of perfect freedom and perfect love. And it is this disconnection that, no matter the paths we have traveled or how it happened in each of our lives, has steadily closed us off from the life we were always meant to live, the life we were always meant to experience.
Living constantly in the burden and pain of our suffering can either become an end destination or a passageway for each of us.
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.
The truth is that we can very easily miss the fact that "life to the fullest" has been here all along... right in front of us... in everything we do... in every moment.
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?
The most important thing I would tell students about living their faith at school is- live your faith without fear or embarrassment.
I do not need any legislation to pronounce the freedom I already have, and will continue to have, despite my changing circumstance or situation.
Will we ever find joy? Will love ever prevail instead of hate and violence? Will the longings of hope ever be realized into something?
If we aren’t living like Christ in the present, when times are relatively good, then we will never live like Christ when things get difficult.
Father we repent and ask for forgiveness, for we know that Jesus did not spend his time isolating and targeting special “sin groups” or trying to defend his positions through arguing and debating.
We live in a culture that does not stop, that does not rest, that does not breathe, and does not understand our desperate need for sacred space.
If we are God's ambassadors then we can't give up on even the most hard headed, hard hearted, stubborn mule of a person.
There is a beautiful word, an elegant descriptor, that has been maligned, tarnished, lampooned, distorted, and completely misunderstood.
Spiritual transformation is a process. It is a daily walk of letting go and receiving, of dying and coming to life, of being refined into something new.
Our awe of the cosmic Christ has been replaced by a very casual “Jesus is my bro” attitude.
The great blessing of faith I received from my father was greater than the very foundations of the earth.
Our future hope does not involve us as disembodied spirits floating around in the sky.
Each of you have had a part in Caroline’s life, molding her and shaping her into the person she is.
Real thanksgiving is saying right now and right now and right now, “This is the very best life can offer and I want to fully embrace it.”
The truth of God that cuts through every liberal and conservative position is God's profound love of all life.
Not only can I not kill my enemy or have someone do it on my behalf or with my support, I can not even hate my enemy, or avenge the wrong he has done to me.
Have you ever felt utterly alone and wished that there was someone else who would just recognize you, say a word to you, or make you feel welcomed?
The Christian ought not have allegiance to or affinity toward any ideological, political, or governmental system of the world.
The Kingdom of God is the full-on reign of God in the hearts and minds of those who believe in the way, life, and teachings of Jesus.
There has to be more to our faith in Jesus Christ than just “becoming a Christian in order to get to heaven” in the future. There must be a purpose for which we are called presently…that shapes who we are and what we are to do. Simple answers will not work.
The message and embodiment of the Kingdom of God…in and through Jesus Christ…offered people an alternative of freedom and liberation and an escape from the crushing and oppressive forces at work in the world. The message of the Kingdom of God was that life does not have to be this way.
while the world continues to over-promise and under-deliver an abundant life, we foolishly continue to pursue it with great strength and resolve…but when the one who can be trusted, Jesus, promises to give those who believe in him an abundant life if we follow him…his ways are left untried and viewed as burdensome and enslaving rather than full of blessing and liberation.
When our lives are dictated by our sinful and carnal bodies...we live enslaved and oppressed. But when our bodies are put in subjection to the ways of the Spirit there is freedom, life, and peace.
The Christian is confronted by the paradox of the Holy Scriptures when told to consider it pure joy when faced with all kinds of trials.
sexual intimacy is a gift from God. but like all other gifts God has given to us...we lose sight of the beauty and life-giving nature contained within them.
there is profound wisdom in pursuing a life in which one sacrifices everything. only there will one end up with nothing and everything. that is where life is found.
response to a cnn.com article: Americans switching faiths/dropping out  one of the things i have been thinking about lately is how we treat Church as the ends…rather than the means.  when we let our faith, our relationship with God, and even our emotions rise and fall based on “the event” on sunday…we have already taught people that […]