Meeting Winter for the First Time
I was born and raised in California. Seasons never quite made sense to me when I lived there. There was warm, hot, and hotter … with a few days of cool Santa Anna winds and the spring showers of February and March to spice things up every now and again. But then my life course…
Read more >
Generic Man
I am grateful to God that I have always been able to go generic. The rest of my family doesn’t use generic products. My wife uses expensive shampoo, sold only at the beauty shop. Next to her exotic brand sits my own luxury bottle: “Big Blue Dandruff Shampoo.” She has specialized hairspray and I have…
Read more >
Family Worship
If you are reading this article, you probably have a growing desire to see your children make a difference for Christ in the world. You want to see them go into the world and "make disciples." You want them to love God, and to help others do the same. There is a pre-requisite for our…
Read more >
Sam’s Story
There he went, again. Sam* was running around the classroom in circles, pounding on things as he went, distracting the rest of the class in every way possible. For three years this is what I dealt with. I thought Sam would grow out of it, but when he moved up to my kindergarten classroom, nothing…
Read more >
Passing It On
“Hear O Israel the LORD our God the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) I have been…
Read more >
I Can’t Spel
I must confess something: I can’t spel. Growing up, I wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box. Because I didn’t speak very clearly, everyone assumed I would spend most of my life in the bottom half of the class. I don’t feel too bad about that. Albert Einstein’s parents considered him a slow child, and…
Read more >
Making It Count
In a crowded living room, gathered with his family around a black and white television set in 1969, 9-year-old Chris Hadfield decided what he wanted to do with his life. As he watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon he knew, with absolute clarity, that he wanted to be an astronaut. Of…
Read more >
The Gap Between Reality and the Ideal
Mark and I broke out of the woods and paused for a moment to gaze up at the peak of the mountain in front of us. I was spending a summer in the Denver area, and climbing a fourteener was on my Colorado bucket list. Hiking through the woods had been enjoyable, but now that we were…
Read more >
Role Call
The world pressures us to become “conformists.” There are pressures all around us to act, dress, look, think, buy, and behave in the same way as everyone else. Sadly, this pressure can even exist in the church when it comes to service and missions. Week after week the pastor encourages the congregation to volunteer in…
Read more >
Here I am
I still clearly remember my fervor as a young Christian in college, newly recommitted to Christ and ready to take on any and every challenge God had for me. Evangelizing fellow undergraduates during Spring Break on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale? Inviting Tony Campolo to our secular campus and telling everyone and anyone who would…