March 21, 2008
Before Easter comes...
Before Easter could come, Christ had to suffer with the crushing burden of our sin.
February 26, 2008
It's all in your head
Why do we believe in God? Could it be that faith is just an evolutionary hat trick?
February 2, 2008
Mark Daniels on Character and Hope-shifting
Mark Daniels comments on presidential character and shifting hopes.
January 15, 2008
Jambalaya Joy
We Americans are a bit uptight about our emotions. Take joy, for example. We compress it and dehydrate it into a dry little morsel that couldn't possibly offend the neighbors, or make us look silly. Except at football games. But joy, God's joy, inevitably breaks our chains.
January 3, 2008
Turks and Pizza
Thousands of Meskhetian Turks are coming to America, looking for a future, a fresh start. Will they find it here?
December 20, 2007
It was like that
The most awesome feat of human exploration began in Bethlehem.
December 19, 2007
Questions of balance
What does it mean to live life in balance?
December 18, 2007
Thoughts on the Glory of the Lord
Ben Witherington talks about the meaning of the prophecy from Isaiah 40:5, "Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people shall see it together."
December 14, 2007
Who's in charge?
The dilemma for Christian political candidates is, where should their loyalties lie?
December 6, 2007
Michelangelo and risk-taking
God has not made us all equal, but he has given every one of us a unique set of abilities and opportunities. We get to choose whether to use those things boldly, or timidly.
November 21, 2007
Giving thanks for the mundane
Thank God for all of His blessings, both remarkable and mundane.
The world has changed
Researchers discover a way to turn ordinary human skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells.
November 10, 2007
IVF and the ethical dilemmas of infertility
Childless couples are turning to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive children. The Christian church highly values life, family, and children, but has ethical concerns about IVF. Is the church merely stuck in the past, or is there reason to be worried?
August 16, 2007
A rose by any other name...?
If Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same God, why not call him by the same name?
July 12, 2007
Sinéad's Theology
Sinéad O'Connor's newest album,
Theology, was inspired by her search for the real heart of God in the books of the Old Testament prophets.
July 11, 2007
Monsoon
As we unwrap the secrets of our genes and disassemble the atom, our lives are as dependent on the summer rains as at any time in human history.
June 2, 2007
Healing hearts
Sometimes the church erroneously gives the impression that God only cares about our souls. He does, but He also wants to know where we hurt.
April 19, 2007
Uncomfortable with Evil
This scientific age sees all deviancy as a puzzle to be solved through the application of rationalism. Sometimes there's a better spiritual explanation — Evil.
April 16, 2007
Virginia Tech and suffering
In the wake of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, some good words on suffering and evil.
April 15, 2007
Running with my eyes closed
Sometimes we miss God in the ordinary ebb and flow of life because the Ipod is turned up and we just can't hear a thing.
April 8, 2007
He is risen!
It began very early on a Sunday morning, when grief turned to joy.
March 30, 2007
Chocolate bunnies, and Jesus, too!
A 6-foot chocolate Jesus on a cross causes a meltdown at a New York art gallery.
March 29, 2007
Spiritual schizophrenia
Listen to your inner voice for spiritual guidance and you'll hear a strangely familiar echo.
March 26, 2007
Hope and optimism
Some see political calculation in John and Elizabeth Edwards' decision to continue his run for the presidency despite his wife's cancer. I see faith.
March 2, 2007
Street faith
Faith takes to the streets in southern Mexico.
February 6, 2007
Wave phrases
Catez Stevens discovers what it means to have only six letters in your vocabulary.
January 14, 2007
Martin Luther King Day
In honor of Martin Luther King, some excerpts from his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
January 1, 2007
December 13, 2006
No Batteries Required
Mark Daniels is opening a meditation on spiritual gifts each day during Advent.
November 8, 2006
Political Tremors
Political upheavals pale in comparison to the steady transformation of the earth.
November 6, 2006
Does Evangelicalism foster dishonesty about sin?
Scot McKnight of Jesus Creed suggests there is an
evangelical environment that fosters dishonesty about sin.
November 1, 2006
Michael, Milly and Parkinson's Disease
I suspect Michael Fox has thought a lot about God since he first received his diagnosis. Perhaps he has even wondered, as many have in his place, how a good and loving Father could allow his children to suffer so terribly.
September 29, 2006
Passion under the stars
Flamenco is joyous music, but bittersweet — joy in the midst of a life filled with sorrow and uncertainty. Music connected to the passionate heart of God.
September 24, 2006
Bob and Madonna: Uncensored
Bob the Tomato gagged; Madonna crucified. Viewer discretion advised.
September 19, 2006
One of these things is not like the others...
Pope Benedict is being criticized for doing exactly what religious leaders are supposed to do: pointing out how Christianity is different from religions X, Y and Z.
September 11, 2006
9/11: Lessons unlearned
The most vital post-9/11 task in America today is to rebuild our national unity against an enemy who would deny us freedom.
August 25, 2006
In the woods
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the Lord!
July 7, 2006
Spiritual Narratives
We all have a spiritual narrative that guides our actions and frames our understanding of life's events.
June 21, 2006
They Call Me Trinity
Presbyterians look for "fresh" ways to think about the Trinity.
May 8, 2006
A beginning and an end
Christ has made possible the beginning, and the end, and every nanosecond of our passage in between.
April 17, 2006
Easter People
Christians are by nature an Easter people...
April 13, 2006
An Easter Dialogue
An Easter conversation between a skeptic and a believer.
February 3, 2006
Bono Addresses the National Prayer Breakfast
"Look at what happened in South East Asia with the Tsunami. 150,000 lives lost... In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month." Bono in his address to the National Prayer Breakfast
February 1, 2006
A Hopeful Society
President Bush's State of the Union address called us to become "a hopeful society." How do we encourage the growth of hope?
January 11, 2006
God in the Dock
In human history, there have been many who have made extraordinary claims about themselves, but none that are quite as extravagant as the claims of Jesus Christ.
December 31, 2005
In Retrospect
We are largely unaware of the passage of time, until we glance backwards.
December 27, 2005
Christmas, Inc.
"Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty..."
December 24, 2005
Losing Anxiety in a Time of Awe
Catez reflects on how her growing understanding of the Christ in the manger has transformed Christmas.
November 22, 2005
November 22
We convince ourselves that mere houses of cards are concrete fortresses. And then a puff of wind collapses it all, and we are stunned.
October 26, 2005
Upsidedown success
How do you define success? And more to the point for Christians, how does God define success?
October 17, 2005
Mark Daniels: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
There is no such thing as instant discipleship. Mark Daniels reflects on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and the importance of a daily habit of reading the Bible and prayer.
June 8, 2005
Faking Church, Faking Faith
Paula at Listen In has written a review of an interesting book: Faking Church: the Subtle Defection by Dan Schaeffer. Faking Church ties in well with some of the thinking behind my recent post, The Great Pretenders. No one wants...
May 16, 2005
Frog-stranglers
"My Word is like the rain..."
April 13, 2005
The 65th Christian Carnival
The 65th Christian Carnival as hosted at AnotherThink.
April 4, 2005
A Christian Perspective on Suffering
Victoria and Brynleigh Smith, conjoined twins, can teach us about the nature of compassion in the midst of suffering.
April 2, 2005
March 25, 2005
A Very Good Friday
That was Good Friday. A day of blood, tears, bewilderment, and the loss of all hope. A dark day with just a glimmer of light: a Son who never lost faith in the love of his Father, even while suffering and dying for crimes he did not commit.
March 1, 2005
Academy of Excellence
Life is a race. Train hard. Run hard. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
January 28, 2005
Mistaken for gods
It can be so easy, so tempting, to take credit for things we haven't done.
January 21, 2005
In a Direction Set by Liberty
The
One Big Thing that lies at the heart of America is a notion of a set of universal human rights founded on the cornerstone of Liberty.
December 25, 2004
Merry Christmas!
Lo, how a rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse's lineage coming as men of old have sung. It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter, when half-gone was the night. Isaiah 'twas foretold it,...
December 9, 2004
Exmas and Crissmas
While some Christians lament the marketing of Xmas and the removal of Christian songs and symbols from public places, I happen to believe it's a good thing that Xmas and Christmas are finally separate from each other in the public square.
December 5, 2004
The God Who Morphed
It may seem weird to think of a God who morphed himself into a human. It may seem
undignified... but this is Jesus Christ.
November 25, 2004
Thanksgiving and Gratitude
Thanksgiving is an unusual holiday—a celebration of an attitude, not a person or an event. What are you grateful for?
November 8, 2004
Overcoming Temptation
Link to a very good post on temptation by La Shawn Barber.
November 2, 2004
Worlds of Difference
The word of God is a powerful agent for change in culture, whether we like it or not.
October 25, 2004
Forgiveness
The best kept secret in all the world is that forgiveness changes things. That forgiveness is transformational. So begins a very excellent post by Bob at Mr. Standfast. A must-read....
All creatures great and small...
In our encounters with children and animals needing our kindness and compassion, we also may encounter God.
