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Wrestling with Cancer and the Reality of the Resurrection
Read more: Wrestling with Cancer and the Reality of the ResurrectionPhoto credit: “Defocused tree bokeh” by freestocks.org is marked with CC0 1.0. This past November 2024 I heard the words none of us ever want to hear: I had cancer. Sure, as some might say, mine was only prostate cancer – very treatable and easily survived. However, my cancer was advanced enough that the oncologist determined I needed…
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Is Lent Really Worth It?
Read more: Is Lent Really Worth It?Part of what comes with moving across the world is the acquiring of new traditions. For instance, just as the language is slightly different, so are the holidays. There is certainly no Independence Day on 4th of July, but England does have its own “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes day” which conversely memorializes the failure…
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Preparing for the Fast
Read more: Preparing for the FastLent always seems to sneak up on me. As someone who really tries to intentionally observe the Lenten season, I hate feeling rushed to come up with “what I’m doing for Lent.” Furthermore, it has been my general observation that those hurried Lenten commitments made without prayer or much reflection tend to be a bit…
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What is Forgiveness?
Read more: What is Forgiveness?In a couple of weeks I will be giving a short sermon on the subject of forgiveness. I knew from the outset that this was not a “safe” topic for me. Forgiveness does not come easy for me, especially in the places that it really matters, that is, in the places where the perceived wrongs…
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How Majestic is Your Name
Read more: How Majestic is Your Name“O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” (8:1-2) Recently I’ve been participating in a Hebrew reading group and we…
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How I Became a Disciple
Read more: How I Became a DiscipleAs the New Year is approaching, I cannot help but to remember my past and stand in awe of God. June 2013 will mark my ten-year anniversary of being a Christian, and August 2013 will bring my 30th birthday! Spending the entirety of my twenties figuring out life as a Christ follower has been challenging,…
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Beyond the Underground: Scripture in Society
Read more: Beyond the Underground: Scripture in SocietyA friend of mine, whom I love for his warm but temperate heart, expresses the concern that the Christian faith, once normalized in the prevailing culture, will suffer a weakened witness. In many places a normalized church has been a worldly church, and one does not wish to see (for instance) the Church in China…
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Gift in the Trash
Read more: Gift in the TrashThis story begins at the bottom of a trashcan–which, I admit, is not a very promising start. But it’s the story of how I come to be writing this post at all. It was a Sunday night in July 2011, 2 weeks after the miscarriage. My sisters had been visiting us for the past eleven…
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Thorns and Roses (Guest Post)
Read more: Thorns and Roses (Guest Post)I have always found the spiritual life intimidating at best. How do I ascend to those vast heights of knowing God when I live, not exactly in the Valley of the Shadow, but at least on the Plain of the Ordinary? I am often rendered immobile in my spiritual walk by a haunting complex which…