Past Posts

stones for peace not outrage Outrage made us sick; it cannot make us well
Think about your job. I'll bet you accomplish a lot there. But are you outraged? Or do you just know what you need to do and you do it? Think about other areas of your life— family, friends, volunteer work, hobbies: there's not one where outrage is held to be a necessary…
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a great nation “A great nation”… thoughts on inaugurals past and present
What our great nation once said, what Jesus said, and what we said today as we strive to be great again.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA 3 ways I’d fix the Church if I could
To fix the Church, we need real transparency, freedom, and grace. If all we have are "second chances", then the notion of "Christian grace" is meaningless.
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Oakland warehouse fire What you can do about the Oakland warehouse fire
Reading about life before the Oakland warehouse fire, what struck me? it was the kind of place that Jesus would have been drawn to like a magnet.
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Thanksgiving stress Going full Martha: some Thanksgiving advice
Later today, we are going over to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving. We're bringing some food. See, we are inconvenient guests— my wife is gluten-free, and my daughter and I are both vegetarian— so it's easy to feel like we need to go the absolute limit to keep our hosts from feeling…
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rainbow after the storm “Nothing to shout about”, or, my four-month break
If I want to be relevant, I should choose my side and start shouting. But how we treat those who disagree matters more even than which side wins.
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Where does it end? Where does it end?
It is a sad day for those of us who value civility, decorum, peace. Regardless of the outcome, it was always going to be.
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The love and offensiveness in freedom The love and offensiveness in freedom
If we do not want to be told how to live and what to think, we must be willing to grant others that same freedom.
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look of anger and fear A humble alternative to anger and fear
Loud voices shout that the only possible response is anger and fear. But that is a lie. Other responses exist. Ones that have power for good instead of evil.
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50 dead 50 dead. Let’s keep being America.
When I got the new, I could already hear the spittle-stained shouting to see who could respond in hate the most. I only wish the quiet voices of peace could be louder.
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Fingers Crossed Why I am a Christian hypocrite (Part 2)
Sometimes, what I profess is exactly opposite what I do: the textbook definition of a Christian hypocrite. What's happening when I seem I'm "just for show".
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Christian hypocrite Why I am a Christian Hypocrite
I am a Christian hypocrite. If I don't live up to scripture or don't practice what I preach, does my faith still have any value?
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Baby boy (would be nine years old) Nine years old today, if only
Remembering the sweet baby boy we lost, who would be nine years old today
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Ideal Church All I want in a church is…
We broke up with our church in January. There are two "must haves" I wish all churches had: room for the Holy Spirit, and grace for one another.
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April Fools' Day secret Of deep dark secrets and April Fools’ Day
My family loves the innocent fun of April Fools' Day, but I can't help stopping to reflect, just a little, about the deeper questions of truth and untruth.
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Spring renewal Spring renewal, or, starting again when it’s too late
I finally learned: yes, I missed my chance, but life is renewal. There is no "back in my day". If you are still alive, then today is your day.
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pro-gun mom with son Pro-gun mom shot. Where is our compassion?
A pro-gun mom accidentally shot by her 4-year-old gets scathing condemnation from all sides. But agree or disagree, where is our simple Christlike humanity?
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penny's worth of time Guest post: The extravagance in a penny’s worth of time
Mo Morrison of "Shake The Tree" asks: if a poverty-stricken widow could offer everything, can't we offer a few moments of our precious time?
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Key to happy marriage How to save your marriage in one easy step
For all of the sound and fury coming from the church these days over the state of marriage, what it's really about is, how to sacrificially love your spouse
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What Google says the Bible advocates Correcting what the World thinks “the Bible advocates”
Go to Google, type "Bible advocates", and see the popular suggested searches that appear: "violence"… "killing non believers"… "slavery". You can't even get "love" to appear. So today, I am fixing that. Some of that is treated in the Bible, but none of it is what the Bible is about.
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Outdated Bible Is it time to give up on our outdated Bible?
The number one complaint about the Bible is, it's outdated. If God has so much to say to our times, why make it so hard to understand?
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Can Christians vote for Donald Trump? Why this white Christian male can never support Donald Trump
In fiery rhetoric, some see the strong medicine our country needs. But Christlike ends cannot be achieved by such un-Christlike means.
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Overdoing it with food God in the food, or, forgetting to save your life
Food represents a gigantic fraction of Biblical teaching, yet I've never heard a sermon on it. What can we learn from the original "diet book"?
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Women's voices in ministry Women’s voices, or, how to avoid spiritual malnutrition
Thankful for women's voices in the blogosphere when I can't get them at church.
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Award Best Christian Stuff of 2015
Writers need inspiration, often from the inspired voices around us. Here, I recognize some that inspired me this year. Here's hoping they will inspire you too!
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Victory: New Year's resolution How a New Year’s resolution can rescue your soul
A New Year's resolution is hope, transformation, renewal— same as the Gospel message: whatever rut you are stuck in, there is way to freedom.
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Gift from a homeless man Christmas blessing from a homeless man
In our annual Christmas outreach to the homeless, a lesson that it truly is in giving that we receive.
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Stressed & broke at Christmas Overwhelmed & broke: 3 survival tips for this season of joy
As we enjoy the regular old beauty and joy and kindness of Christmas, some thoughts to keep from going crazy or going broke.
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Christmas wishes with family 15 Christmas wishes for saving the world (especially #5)
How can you live out "peace on Earth" amid misunderstanding, prejudice, and hate? Christmas wishes for 15 ways we each can do just that.
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Refugees: boy on street Guns, flowers, refugees… and why I am not afraid
The dustbins of history are littered with those who chose safety over standing up to evil. If we turn away the refugees, we number ourselves among them.
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Why I am a Christian Nice, smart… Christian? My story of 21st century faith.
How can smart people be Christians? One Stanford-educated believer shares the story of his own faith journey, and why it matters now more than ever.
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women torn off For God’s sake: let a woman preach
In our wranglings whether to let a woman preach, are we taking a strong counter-cultural stand for scriptural truth? Or are we just fighting against God?
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Sadness and Bing Bong from "Inside Out" Hangin’ with Sadness, or, the theology of Mr. Bing Bong
Every vacation we've ever taken has been “after loss”. What we learned on one recent trip from Pixar's "Mr. Bing Bong".
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lightning-question2-604x270 Doesn’t God have to do what you say when you pray?
The bible says, "Ask anything in my name and I will do it." But God sometimes doesn't do what we say. So then, why pray? In fact, why believe at all?
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Sun behind the clouds But isn’t it all God’s fault…?
How there can there be evil in the first place if God is all-powerful, made the world, and is good? Isn't it all God's fault? (Final part of our series, "Where is God when bad things happen?")
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cryingWithFlowers604x270 How to make peace with God after loss
Making sense of anything was hard after loss of our baby, like a feeling of betrayal. As one who finally made peace with God: there is a way through it all. (Part 2 of our series, "Where is God when bad things happen?")
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mass shooting, police line, memorial Mass shooting, evil, and the end of the story
A mass shooting is once again in the headlines... reflecting on the time last year when it became personal. (Part 1 of our series, "Where is God when bad things happen?")
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The church is after your money The Church is after your money! Sort of.
The perception that The Church is "all about the money" is clearly present in our society. Is it true? I would say "yes", but not in the way people think.
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9/11 cross and flag— a Christian nation? This 9/11: We should be a Christian nation and shouldn’t
Reflecting on 9/11… I am a Christian: I believe in Christ's teachings. I am an American: I love my country. Do the two go together or don't they? Both.
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What to do with sinners Jesus and the “ho”, or, what to do with sinners
Her story could just as easily have been set in Puritan America; she is only missing the scarlet letter.
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Deeper prayer life My so-called prayer life
I like prayer but am not particularly good at it. How can we pray better? How can we have more of the immediate, intimate prayer life we want?
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strength604x270. All the delicious anger
This week, I was invited to a smörgåsbord of anger, largely motivated from a good place, but scripture urges us against it, toward choosing peace instead.
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Take a stand, or spineless for Jesus? Take a stand: be spineless for Jesus
Many of us are so eager to take a stand for God. What that looks when we truly believe that "When I am weak, then I am strong."
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Hotel Europa Belfast, before and after Three things we must learn from 50,000 casualties in Belfast
I have stood at the most bombed hotel in the world. What I realized? We must learn the lessons of peace, inspired by Jesus, now being practiced in Belfast.
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Sabbath or Smartphones? How to be human in a world of smartphones-over-sabbath
It was 1995, and he warned us. There was no smartphone then, not for 12 more years. Netscape, the first mass-market Internet browser, was barely ten months old. Facebook, Twitter... even MySpace  were still a decade away. He frets over the now quaint-seeming fax and car phone. But he saw it coming. He knew. There…
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LittleGirlScreen604x270s God, condemnation, and the “unrepentant sinner”
We all have sin. Scripture says so. Christians say so; even conservative Christians say so. Why, then, is there so much talk nowadays about how people are "in sin" and therefore condemned to God's judgment? Do we have to quit our "sin" in order to be Christians? Do we have…
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The neighbor you've always hated How to find harmony with that neighbor you’ve always hated
On Father's day, I weeded my neighbor's front yard; my wife gave him some zucchini from our garden. This is the neighbor with the giant monster truck, the two pit bulls, and the tendency toward loud raucous parties that go into the wee small hours. It is also the neighbor who…
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Jesus work, fabulous luxury Doing Jesus’ work through fabulous luxury
Have you heard the saying, "Preach the gospel at all times; use words when necessary"? My pastor recently spoke about that. It used to be one of his favorites, he said, but not anymore; instead, he urged us to talk about Jesus, "no matter how uncomfortable it is." I was thinking…
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Love— a poem Here’s a viral headline: “Christians nice, talk about love”
This week, my daughter brought home a poem she had written as part of her third-grade class: Love is pink. It tastes like lemon pound cake. It sounds like singing birds, and it smells like vanilla. It feels like baby hair, it looks like a butterfly. Love makes me feel…
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Relearning to love after we lost our baby Compassion for “them”: relearning to love the people we were before we lost our baby
What we learned, when we lost our baby, about parents' biological need to blame ourselves. How we re-learned to love "those people".
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Blessing602x270 What is sin? It’s not that simple.
It used to be easy to say what is sin. Then Jesus came along and messed it all up.
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The cost of serving Christ Smelly clothes and the cost of serving Christ
Shane Claiborne knows about the cost of serving Christ. Twenty years ago, as a college student in Philadelphia, he learned that a group of homeless families, sheltering inside an abandoned Catholic cathedral, were 48 hours from eviction. Thinking of Matthew 25:40, he rallied to action, plastering his campus with fliers proclaiming, "Jesus is being kicked out…
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Be loved. I double-dog dare you. Be loved. I double-dog dare you.
Show of hands: if a sweet little girl mistook you for a famous movie actor, how many would be flattered? Probably most? At one point in my life, I would have assumed that. And how many would react with shame? How many would feel hot tears of hurt and anger…
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Resisting the unfairness of God Learning to enjoy the massive unfairness of God
The gospel message has a problem. Always has had. Here it is: a lot of the very people who embrace it most whole-heartedly seem like they don't really like it. At its core, the Christian message— the "good news"— is intended for all of life's "outsiders": you are welcome too! So how…
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Pain into beauty Spinning pain into beauty for National Poetry Month
My nine-year-old daughter surprised me this week. April is National Poetry Month, culminating on the 30th with "Poem in Your Pocket Day". (To observe, you choose a poem and carry it around in your pocket.) She had been looking forward to the day all week. I assumed she would choose one of…
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Burning anger What to do when your anger makes you angry
I get it when I'm angry about the big stuff. Once a friend conned me out of $3500; I was angry. Once a project at work was single-handedly held up for nearly a year by a regulator who kept changing the rules on us; I was angry. It makes sense.…
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Surviving years alone Surviving years alone with God and “Into The Woods”
Growing up, some kids wanted to be firefighters or doctors or zookeepers; all I wanted was to have my own family. As a 14-year-old freshman, I made my plan: date in high school, date seriously in college, marry right after graduation, five years just us, first child at 28. But there…
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How Jesus is like nonfat milk 3 Ways Jesus is like nonfat milk
Milk is a starting place. Milk polarizes. Milk explains why Jesus had to die.
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Spiritual lessons from Spirit Airlines 3 Spiritual lessons learned flying the dreaded Spirit Airlines
In Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Darcy asks Lizzy Bennet to dance, she curses herself: "Why could I not think of an excuse? I promised myself I would never dance with him... hateful man!" So, you can imagine how I felt when I recently found I had no choice but to…
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Religious freedom: if scripture is a weapon, then whom are we killing? Religious freedom: if scripture is a weapon, then whom are we killing?
Picture this: I’m getting up to preach, and I’ve brought my Glock 9. Right up into the church where everyone can see. And then I’ll explain: I’ve got a deadly weapon here. But look! I checked that the magazine is empty. I checked: there’s no cartridge in the chamber. The…
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Serving beside those we hate Serving beside those we hate
A conversation between my friend and her daughter, posted on Facebook this week: Daughter: "Why is there a ripped up Chick-fil-A coupon on the table?" Mom: "Because your brother doesn't agree with their politics."  Daughter: "Oh. That makes sense." A quote from Rachel Held Evans, on the occasion of last…
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Jesus and Internet trolls What Internet trolls have in common with Jesus
I've been reading a lot lately about Internet trolls. Whether righteously piling on to destroy someone's life for 10 seconds of Twitter thoughtlessness (à la Justine Sacco) or going after a 17-year-old softball player because you don't like her dad (à la Gabby Schilling), the inhuman viciousness of it all is a little hard…
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God fixing our world The 3 best options for God fixing our world (hint: none of them will work)
If God were going to "come down and reveal himself", what are his options?
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