OK, I’m going to soapbox about one of my pet peeves. (And please excuse me if I get snarky). The other day, I saw it on a church readerboard. Then it popped up in my son’s children’s Bible. We’ve all heard it. The wording varies but the gist is, “Jesus told parables to help people…
Category: A little about me
Daddy’s Little Helper
My son and I restained the railing mentioned in the post below so I thought I’d repost it. It’s been a few years, and my son is now seven. But the truths involved still apply. Best of all, my boy told me again how happy he was to do a project with me where we…
An Atheistic Fly
There’s something I’ve observed about Christians: at times our beliefs are based on what we haven’t experienced. Now, the atheist would say our entire faith is based on what we haven’t experienced. Since the atheist hasn’t had spiritual experiences (or won’t admit he has) then no one has really had such experiences. We might shake…
Doctrine Himself
Lately, I’ve been meditating on a line from Psalm 73: “God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). I’ve known God is my portion for years. But for those same years I have lived with dissatisfaction. The truth I knew didn’t make up for the grief I felt about what I…
Yours, Mine, Ours
In my experience, most people like to talk. Fewer listen. People are keenly interested in what they’re saying. Fewer ask questions or show as much interest when listening. It’s one of those little evidences of the fall. Conversation is more self-centered than other-centered. This also plays out spiritually. When I talk to God, I tend…
Crayola Jesus
My wife leads children’s church at our fellowship. Last Sunday, she did a craft with the kids that portrayed Jesus walking on water. My six year old son colored Jesus purple. A girl in the class scolded him and said God would be mad because he colored Jesus wrong. My wife gently suggested that God…
Heart View
I have mentioned that I’m in a season of rest. The Lord has limited projects and study. Sometimes this has left me feeling bewildered and directionless. Now and then I ask the Lord if there’s something else He wants me to start doing since most of what I used to do has stopped. I haven’t…
Overlooking and Undervaluing
As a “baby Christian,” I attended a discipleship/ministry school. As we prayed to end class one day, the Spirit fell. Prayers and worship erupted spontaneously. During the joyful pandemonium, I felt a hand on my shoulder. A friend had a prophetic word for me. The Lord said He was putting a spirit of Stephen on…
WAKE UP!
I just watched “The Matrix,” a film set in a dystopian future. People create artificial intelligence, which turns computers and machines against us. We lose a war with the machines. They start farming us and using our bioelectricity as a power source. To keep us unconscious and compliant, the machines wire everyone to a neural-interactive…
Change or Die: A Post-Christmas Wrap Up
This past weekend, I wrote a piece for the religion column of our local paper. The following is an excerpt with a link to the full article *** Two years ago, I introduced my daughter to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. We read the book then watched some film versions. The 2009 animated version (with Jim…
The Voice of One 