Your theology is just a theory. No matter how precious. Even when you can back up each clause with scripture, or appeal to your favorite theologian. Are you balking already? Maybe you’re sure your theology the very truth handed down from the apostles. A lot of us think that! Before you assume I’m telling you […]
Don’t bypass the narrow gate to growth.
There is a narrow gate that must be passed through if we will experience growth and spiritual maturity. It’s called narrow, not because it’s hard to find, but because so few people want to go through it. We want what lies on the other side—growth, maturity, a greater sense of peace, and awareness of God’s […]
The wilderness you’re in may be exactly what you need.
God, I hate uncertainty. I don’t like not knowing what’s coming next, not having a plan, not being able to make a well-informed choice about a long-considered path forward. I grew up in a church community that trained us well for certainty. To be sure about what’s right and wrong, clear about what happens when […]
If you’re in the wilderness, you are not alone!
Are you feeling the discomfort of living in between? Something is coming to an end or may already be done. What’s next isn’t clear. Before now the path was apparent, but now? Not so much. Options multiply. It’s hard to know which road is best. In this landscape, goal-making isn’t easy; sometimes, it doesn’t even […]
How a driven performer has found healing in a mystical prayer. (A Reflection on the Anchor Prayer)
I rest in faith, trusting Father.I walk by faith, following Jesus.I hear in faith, obeying Spirit.In You, I remain. These 22 words have shaped me over the past two years. They have become how I “pray without ceasing.” They are often a diving board into deeper conversation with the Spirit. They’ve become an ongoing reminder […]
Why this pastor talks about emotions so dang much.
I’ve worn glasses for a long time. Since 4th grade, I think. Without my glasses, the world beyond ten feet or so blurs into an indistinct mosaic of colored blobs. Not very safe for me to be out and about! Each morning there is a moment of transformation when I put on my glasses for […]
Did you know your Christian hero was a theological mess?
The internet has made two things very clear about the Christian community. First, a lot of us love to be right. Second, we feel especially right when we can castigate someone else for being wrong. Somewhere we got this idea that the thing God cares about most is that all of our theology is correct. […]
Your To-Do List Is Numinous (TAW006)
Episode 006 – Your To-Do List Is Numinous Do you find yourself longing for those big, goose-bumpy, glowy moments of spiritual connection? Those mountain-top experiences are so great. They fill us up, and motivate us, and often leave us feeling connected with God. But you need to know something. If you’re looking for that kind […]
Social Media Ethics: May the words of my internet comments and the meditation of my text messages be acceptable to You, Lord.
Jesus never wrote a blog post. He never posted his status on Facebook or Instagrammed the baskets of extra food at his latest miracle feast. (That would be cool, huh?) Jesus never got an angry email or got caught up in an emotional text argument. Our faith is rooted in a time long before this […]
3 fatal tendencies crippling your online communication
I love sarcasm as a form of communication. The subtlety of a quiet, sarcastic retort can make me smile for days. But online? The list of people I’ve offended or hurt, many unknowingly, is long. I’ve also left a wake of miscommunication behind me, as people who don’t know me tried to process things I […]
Is your online life Christian?
In May of 2010, Facebook broke my church. Honestly, it wasn’t Facebook’s fault. It had more to do with us—our level of relational wisdom and our lack of experience with digital communication—but Facebook was the vehicle. We drove the car into the ditch. You can’t blame the car. Days before the debacle, Arizona had passed […]
An Open Letter to Christians on the Internet
Dear Christians who spend time online, Isn’t the internet amazing! So much information just a click away. New ways to learn and communicate. New opportunities to interact. It’s great, right? Well… I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it seems like we are not so good at being Christian online. I don’t mean that we’re not […]
Read to Grow / Radically Normal (or Are you suffering from Spiritual Accomplishment Urgency Syndrome?)
There’s a particular sickness you might have if you grew up in Church World (Andy Stanley’s name for the deep sub-culture of evangelical Christianity) The sickness? Spiritual Accomplishment Urgency Syndrome. The symptoms often include: You feel a need to be at all church activities. Even if you don’t go, you feel guilty about it. You […]
Jesus calls us to be what?
God has a plan for your life, but it might not be what you think. God’s plan for you is not that you’d be real good. It’s not that you’d join a certain religious club. It’s not that you’d travel to Burundi to be a missionary, or go to a certain college, or marry that […]
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