To continue with the theme of calling, I want to point out three things about calling that I believe are essential. First, our calling is not about us. Often times we think that God’s mission in the world is to make people (us) happy. I hate...
A few minutes after the service began, an elderly man entered the rear doors of the small church holding a dog. He quietly slipped into one of the rear pews, hoping to go unnoticed. When the pastor stood to deliver the sermon for the day, he notice...
God is faithful to grant his people both grace and wisdom in dark and difficult times. One of the things that makes times of difficulty bearable is knowing the way forward. Evaluating the public’s response to current events in America...
Violence and oppression are brothers. They are in the same category. They’re not the same thing, but they produce the same results: division and hatred. Violence and oppression are the instruments that a broken world uses to secure itself. Broken...
What is the proper Christian response to terrorism? The Old and New Testament alike can provide for us instruction and counsel in answering that question. Terrorism is not something that is unique to our time in human history. Terrorism is something...
Not long ago I wrote about guarding our minds and hearts by being careful about what we allow ourselves to be exposed to in the world. I said that the same way that we have to be very careful about eating clean food, we likewise have to be very...
At the end of each academic year here at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Haiti, we do a deep clean of the cafeteria kitchen. My ministry partners have spent the past three days washing, scrubbing, bleaching, mopping, wiping, painting, and bleaching...
One of the hardest things to do is admit when we are wrong. It’s rather shocking really, because we are all wrong quite often. Even the heroes of the Bible made lots mistakes, both trivial and grave (David and Bathsheba, Solomon’s...
In light of current events, it is often times difficult to believe that Jesus is, in fact, in control. The mobilization of militant Islam, the quagmire of American politics and international relations, unending wars and threats of wars, the...