My dear friend, I’m grateful for the opportunity we had to talk a few days ago. As I’ve prayerfully reflected on our time, I realize that there are things that would have been helpful for me to say. I can tend to be a conflict avoider so please know that writing to you now is reflective of my deep concern for you. I’m not trying to pick a fight or to suggest that somehow I’ve got it all together...
What if they don’t come back? As a pastor, that is my fear. What if people don’t come back to church? What if people stay comfortable watching church online?What if health concerns keep them indefinitely from fellowship?What if they feel the church doesn’t agree with their precise political or social or theological perspective and they decide to leave?What if they find they are too busy with...
Baptism testimonies are one of my favorite parts of church. I love hearing the variety of ways the Lord works the miracle of new birth in people’s hearts. But as a parent of five, I get a special thrill hearing the “boring” testimonies. You know the ones I mean? The testimonies that go something like this: “I grew up in a Christian home, felt sorry for my sin at the age of five and talked to my...
Do you ever wish that you could just forget about food? What started as an innocent diet has turned into a monster. You eat too little. You eat too much. You restrict. You binge. It’s getting harder to cover up what you are doing. At first you tried exercise, then vomiting, then laxatives. Maybe you tried cutting too. Who would have thought that food—or the fear of it—would become the center of...
Farmers work hard to prepare their soil for planting. They plow through the packed earth, pick out the large rocks, and throw down fertilizer. When the time is right, they plant their seeds. Then they wait. If the rain is insufficient, they irrigate their fields. Then they wait. They keep watch over their fields to keep out the livestock. Then they wait. They can plant and water, but only God can...
