• Atypical (and modern) Christmas Songs: Better Days

    This is the continuation of a collection of posts I’m doing this year about some of my favorite “Christmas Songs” that most people may not think of when they think of  Christmas.  They’re not in any particular order and I’m not sure how many I’ll come up with, so I wouldn’t exactly call it a…

  • Atypical Christmas Songs: Peace on Earth

      By Visitor7 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons This is the continuation of a collection of posts I’m doing this year about some of my favorite “Christmas Songs” that most people may not think of when they think of  Christmas.  They’re not in any particular order and I’m not sure how…

  • Atypical Christmas Songs: Christmas at Denny’s

    I’ve previously mentioned wanting to assemble a collection of posts about some of my favorite “Christmas Songs” that most people may not think of when they think of  Christmas.  I’ve decided this will be the year.  They won’t be in any particular order and I’m not sure how many I’ll come up with, so I…

  • Humility Critical For Real Change To Happen

    This past Monday I watched our local city-county council get bogged down in petty politics as they debated a proposal to provide legal protections to our neighbors living without homes.  As I watched this, I kept thinking of how important the quality of humility is if we are ever going to see any substantial change…

  • The Paradox of Awe and Anxiety

    My blog has been silent for the last three months.  With the beginning of a new school year, fall usually brings about the slowing down of writing activity.  This fall has been particularly active in a number of ways: adjusting to a regular part-time teaching routine at my daughters’ school, new relationships in and around…

  • Being At The Mercy Of Another

    This past weekend I had the “opportunity” to experience just a piece of the helplessness many of the most vulnerable people in our city experience on a daily basis.  This was not a staged learning experience where you know no matter what’s going on it’s only pretend, but instead a situation where you are in…

  • Secure Your Own Mask First

    Recently a friend posted a quote on Facebook from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero.  I found the quote so good I decided to check the book out at our local library and read more.  Having been on a journey towards a more emotionally healthy faith over the past nine years (I’m sure I still have…

  • Wise Leadership: Get The Full Story

    There is an interesting story in the history of ancient Israel.  It occurs near the end of the Book of Joshua as the fighting men of the two-and-a-half tribes that had been given land east of the Jordan River are released from their obligation to fight alongside their fellow Israelites that will settle west of…

  • Being The Nuts and Bolts of Christianity: An Experiential Witness

    In the opening scenes of Ragamuffin: The True Story of Rich Mullins the character of Rich Mullins is placed in the role of narrator of the film through a radio interview that interjects narration throughout the movie. This interview opens with a question about how he came to faith. Mullins responds, “I am a Christian,…

  • Suring Up Our Weaknesses

    Last night I enjoyed listening on-line as one of my favorite IndyCar drivers, Ed Carpenter, won his third career race in the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.  I’m always partial to the smaller teams in IndyCar, especially owner/driver teams like Carpenter’s, and enjoy any chance I have to see them win out over their…

  • A Call To Integrated Lives and Churches: Reflections On Reading Slow Church

    One of our families early encounters with missional church was being a part of Bluer (now Renewal Vineyard) in Minneapolis.  I often remember Pastor John Musick’s expression for sin: “disintegrated lives.”  It really caught the essence of all the ways our culture tries to pull us away from the holistic, integrated lives God desires for…

  • Wisdom Found Under A Bridge

    During our missional communities time serving friends without homes alongside Food 4 Souls yesterday, we served a different route than we usually travel.  Though we missed the friends we’ve made on our normal route, this change gave us the opportunity to meet Fred.  Fred was travelling along with one of the outreach workers from Food…