• Hope in Suffering,  Peace Amidst Holiday Strife

    Six Deaths in 36 Days

    On any given day, I love being an early morning riser. I used to love it as a child, when I would follow my dad around the house as he went through his morning routine—I’d even tuck a handkerchief and old men’s wallet and little black comb into MY pants pocket too because I wanted to be just like him. I loved not being tired at 6:30AM jazz band and swing choir rehearsals in high school. And I have always loved the freshness and encouragement of super early morning walks—it’s such a perfect time to be outdoors, take deep breaths, and think, reflect, pray, and enjoy. (My non-early-morning-riser friends undoubtedly disagree with…

  • Eulogy for a Bad Mother,  Redeeming Church Conflicts,  Relationships & Peacemaking,  Sin & Repentance

    “One reason people cling to the hurts they have received is that it gives them an excuse for being angry …”

    My friend and one of my heroes of the faith, Ajith Fernando, graciously gave me permission to share this with you. It includes some of his key teachings from Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World (which I just ordered and am looking very forward to reading). Ajith has a particular burden for this topic because of the deep hurt that angry Christian leaders can cause. RESIDUAL ANGER Ajith Fernando A few days ago I realised that Paul used the words “rejoice,” “rejoiced,” “joy,” and “glad” a total of sixteen times in the Epistle to the Philippians. The great Bible scholar A. T. Robertson aptly named his classic exposition on Philippians, Paul’s…

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    Introductory Course on Logic for our 5th/6th Grade Theology Class

    When school reconvenes in January, I will be teaching our 5th and 6th Grade Theology Class some basic logic. I’ve been listening to podcasts and reading away to try to get myself ready for their questions. (Having never formally studied logic, I feel the weakness of my self-study and self-preparations. But I’m hoping I can stay at least one or two classes ahead of them.) My confidence in this plan for our classes was bolstered this morning when I read this article by Pastor Kevin DeYoung: More Arguments That Are Less Than Meets the Eye In it, he not only summarizes some of the very arguments we will be studying,…

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    One of the Cruelest Things I Ever Said to Anyone (And One of the Most Amazing Stories of Forgiveness I Have Ever Experienced)

    When I was a freshman in high school, I was a complete and utter jerk. All I wanted was to fit in with “the cool crowd.” I let a boy I didn’t even like or respect kiss me just so I could wear his football jersey on a game Friday. I gossiped and giggled with girls who were mean—just because I wanted them to not be mean to me. And one day, one terrible day that still fills me with regret, huddling on a school bus, laughing that wicked laugh that only comes from a soil that has been fertilized with the stench of rotting, dead, vile words, I said…

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    Greater love hath no man than this …

    I hope that I can live like this man. We don’t call them The Greatest Generation for nothin’ …  (HT: Challies) (Oh! And for the first time in my life, I actually watched the little ad that I could have skipped AND I BOUGHT (well, my sister bought) the item advertised: Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine. It seemed like a perfect fit for my daughters who are SO into math, science, design, and engineering these days. I’ve been looking and looking for things to inspire and delight them in these spatial, “hard-science”, quantitative areas that I am so particularly weak in.)