Category: Practical Theology
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God’s timing. . . . Grrr
Read more: God’s timing. . . . GrrrPhD work is difficult. You spend the first year wondering what in the world you are doing. You read and read, hoping to come across something specific on your topic that you can intensely focus on. You look for a weakness in the already existing research to exploit. This takes a lot of time and mental…
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3 Reasons Why Christians Should Be Good Storytellers
Read more: 3 Reasons Why Christians Should Be Good StorytellersI’ve recently found myself surrounded by stories – I’ve been reading them, telling them, listening to them, and living them. It all started when I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I had heard that it was a good story, but I was entirely unprepared for its power. I found myself lingering over numerous sentences,…
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Walk This Way
Read more: Walk This Way“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25 NIV). At some point in the past week, each member of this Smith household has benefitted from those who have gone before us, who are steps ahead of us on the road of life. My husband had the opportunity…
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I Heard God in the Midst of Suicidal Thoughts Through Community
Read more: I Heard God in the Midst of Suicidal Thoughts Through CommunityA friend made a comment about a blog post that I recently “liked” called Hearing God in the Midst of Suicidal Thoughts by Matthew Wireman on The Gospel Coalition blog. In jest, he asked if me if I was doing ok, and wanted to make sure to talk me off the ledge. In my response…
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An Open Letter to Phil Robertson
Read more: An Open Letter to Phil RobertsonHave the men of our time still a feeling of the meaning of sin? Do they, and do we, still realize that sin does not mean an immoral act, that “sin” should never be used in the plural, and that not our sins, but rather our sin is the great, all-pervading problem of our life? Do we still know that it…
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The Butthead Prayer
Read more: The Butthead PrayerThis past weekend, our youth ministry began a series exploring the ins and outs of worship. As a way to ease into the series, our middle schoolers (5th-8th) spent Sunday morning practicing prayer through the acronym PRAY (praise, repent, ask, yourself). The students progressed to different stations where they explored different Scriptures that related to…
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Wandering Minds
Read more: Wandering MindsAs I settled into the book of Deuteronomy this evening for a little devotional reading, I was taken aback by the following verses: “Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of…
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A Needy Jesus
Read more: A Needy JesusToday marks the Day of the Epiphany. While Christmas has come and gone, I’m still going to post about Christ’s incarnation, to continue the reflections on His coming after being reminded by fellow Two Cities bloggers about Epiphany (See King-Ho’s post on “Christmas Eve Beyond Christmas” and Tanner’s post on “Let Christmas Continue“). For the…
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Innate Morality & Godlessness
Read more: Innate Morality & GodlessnessIs there any good reason—biblical, philosophical, scientific or otherwise—to believe in innate morality? This post is partly a sequel to my earlier response to Ray Comfort’s video, Evolution vs. God. If you haven’t seen the video or read my comments about the video, check it out here. I don’t intend to rehash that earlier post, nor…
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Remote Control
Read more: Remote ControlIf you happened to be sitting between rows 24 and 27 on the American Airlines flight from San Antonio to Dallas last Sunday, you might have heard the following rhyme playing repeatedly during the 38 minute flight: I’ve got a remote/ and I’m ready to roll/ making things happen/ ‘cause I’m in control! While I…