I loved the show "24,'' and Jack Bauer was the quintessential American hero. A loner often misunderstood, he avoids relationships because loved ones have a way of getting hurt around him. He wins using his well-honed skills, and then walks back into the darkness until the world needs him again.
As a manly fantasy,…
I sat at the bedside of a dying woman this week. She was confined to bed, and had oxygen running through a line to her nose.
After a few pleasantries, I asked her what she wanted to talk about. Since she new she was dying, I wondered what might be utmost in her mind.
Mostly, she wanted…
Growing up in a southern Baptist church, every Easter there were two hymns you had to sing…or you probably weren’t really Baptist.
One was “Low in the Grave He Lay”. Most people don’t remember it by that title, but by the bouncy chorus that interrupts the sad, mournful verse. After lamenting the crucified Jesus,…
The gales of wind howled through the trees outside the old cabin. Smoke rose from the chimney as the old man ate his humble soup safely inside. His weathered hands were still steady, having stacked the wood by the cabin walls that would surely last the winter’s full duration. It’s a good thing he had.…
As a pastor, I meet a lot of people who tell me they are Christians. However, there's a favor I'd like to ask a few of them...
Would you please stop telling people you're a Christian?
Here's why:
You're too judgmental, you're too negative, you're always focused on how bad things are and never on how good…
There’s a certain odd hush that comes upon a town at Christmas Eve.
It’s not that people aren’t still working — those days when everyone got off work for Christmas are gone. But a calm still descends as families gather, and the majority of stores shut off their lights and workers head home.
That’s…
One of the funniest critiques I hear lobbed against Christians is that we "believe in fairy tales".
"You Christians think your daddy in the sky created humans - how quaint and childish!"
"Ok then," I respond, "where do you think we came from?"
"Well, of course space aliens from another planet colonized earth. What other logical…
I recently got a Facebook message from a well-meaning Christian friend:
"God has seen everything you've been going through, and He told me to tell you 'IT'S OVER'! Your trial has ended, and now God's about to open up the windows of heaven to bless you beyond your wildest dreams!!!!!"
(Full disclosure: I may have…
In light of the coming hubbub that will inevitably be ignited by random Nativity displays, not to mention fearful store employees wishing you a very PC "Happy Holidays" this month, one thing is clear (at least, to me)...
Many people want a world without God.
I know that's rather blunt, but shouldn’t we…
My 26th wedding anniversary is today (Nov 19, 2014), and I can still remember how awkwardly the proposal played out.
I was a youth pastor with a group of 80 teenagers on a mission trip to New Orleans. My intended fiancé grew up in the suburbs there, so I thought it would be perfect to propose…
We’ve parented 5 kids so far…and counting. So we’re well aware of all the negative influences a child faces in today’s culture. There are temptations and hazards now most of us never dreamed of just 10 years ago. Considering all the technology available to them, the number of ways for kids to damage themselves spiritually…