Dangers of Reactive Thinking
We’re born ready-made with a predisposition toward the negative, which motivates us with an urgency the positive rarely equals. I think this is why religious leaders and politicians place so much emphasis on the negative, on fury and fear-mongering. They know what moves us. If they can scare us or make us angry — fear and fury are twins — they can push us wherever they want us to go.
New Tool for Your Bag: Psalm Scrawling
By learning to write our own psalms, we gain a new tool for our faith-life tool bags. Writing mine allowed me to notice and give voice to my fears, hopes and gratitude.
Let Love Be Wild Within You
Let love be wild within you. Let it loose. You have it now. Feel it, for I am here. I have no boundaries, no exit strategy. I am not fickle. My love does not change its mind about you. I am fully engrossed in my love for you.
Fixed-Hour Prayer: A Different Way to Pray
In any form of prayer, there is an upward dimension of communing with God. When we pray, we “seek to communicate with the Eternal One, speaking words of adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.” This is no different in fixed-hour prayer, and I would argue that in some ways, the upward dimension is enhanced by the practice.
Anxiety Can Lead You to God ... Or Away
Anxiety can be the very thing that cripples us and forces us to try to lean on our own understanding of whatever we’re anxious about. But God also has purpose in it. I wonder whether our problem is less about anxiety and more about what we do with it. Let’s consider anxiety as a doorway into intimacy with the Father.
What I Want To Tell My Grandkids
Some years ago, I decided to write a book I’d call something like, “Things I Want to My Grandkids to Know.” I’d self-publish it and provide a copy to each of the kids. I started writing it with a lot of energy, then gradually let it peter out, and then … totally forgot about it. Recently, I happened across my notes, dated 2016. I liked what I’d said. I even added new observations.
How to Trust Our Own Hearts
There are memories here on this wood floor and others through the years. While I know we can hear God anywhere, in all circumstances and places — for he is who he is — I feel an emotional and mental pulling inward when I physically get low. I draw inward, inside myself and become aware of my heart’s connection with God.
Fire in Our Bones
I know I’ll soon have more time to focus on Jenn and our relationship. What will that look like? I’m not sure. I’m also not exactly sure how to move from being an on-the-scene-type dad to more of an over-the-phone- and Thanksgiving/parents-weekend/Christmas/summer-type dad. Moreover, while I know I’ll also have more time for my friends, I don’t know what that should look like either.
Walter Brueggemann: Prophet of the Written Word
Few names resonate as profoundly in the realm of biblical scholarship as Walter Brueggemann. A towering figure in Old Testament studies, Brueggemann has spent decades challenging, inspiring, and reshaping how Christians engage with Scripture. But who is this man, and why should his work matter to people of faith today?
The God We Worship: Encountering His Person
Perhaps all of us would agree that worship must be directed to God alone, for nothing else is worthy of worship. But this simple, obvious idea has far-reaching implications that we may not fully realize. To draw out these implications, we begin with an analysis of our present practice, followed by an attempt to refine the concept of worship and conclude with some suggestions for improving our worship.
Marvin Olasky’s Books For August
One of the many things I learned from Tim Keller is that Jesus does not make a problem go away: He makes it not so important. For Christians who are dying, the anticipation of good things to come can overwhelm the bad thing that’s happening. Sometimes we pray for a physical healing and it miraculously happens, but we might also pray that hope exceeds hurt.
The Tomatometer’s Top 10 Recent Faith-Based Movies
Christian cinema has sometimes struggled to find mainstream acclaim, but a new wave of Faith-based films is surging in quality and winning over popular critics.
Developing a Ministry of Encouragement
I don’t remember deciding I would develop a ministry of encouragement, but I do remember well the beginning of my understanding of what it meant to be encouraged. It is a memory that goes back to a rocking chair my grandmother had in her kitchen on a farm in Tennessee, a rocker I still have in my own home. I remember sitting in her lap as she rocked me many times for several years until I was old enough that my feet dragged the floor.
Maybe It's Not False Assurance
The breeze is blowing, and I feel it against my skin. It doesn’t move through me but past me, around me. Then, the feeling of the air blowing my hair and the gentle push and pull on my limbs subsides. It’s leaving as quiet as it’s coming. Where does it go, and to where does it return?
The Lord of the Rings and Redemptive Art
‘Lord of the Rings’ holds out a distant but profound hope of complete renewal and joy. You have to read very carefully, but mainly in the songs and poems, we learn about a future consummation in which “the world is mended” and about reunions at a distant day when “the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again” and they “may meet in the Spring.”
The Ground Beneath is Holy
The birds are too quiet for me to hear, with the nearby rush of traffic ... But I feel their song, the declaration of all creation: I am here; we are all here; all that is here belongs.
An Interview with Dallas Willard
People who say they trust Jesus as Redeemer and do not bend every effort to obey him are self-deceived. They do not trust him. They trust some story about him.
You Will Get Unstuck. Me, Too.
Jesus loves us too much not to help us face our disordered attachments, our coping mechanisms and addictions. So, to stay at his side, to match his stride, we must begin to face our deep hurts.
Rainer Maria Rilke: A Spiritual Journey By Poetry
While not explicitly Christian in his writings, Rilke’s poetry and prose delve into the depths of human existence, touching on themes of spirituality, love, and our relationship with God. His work continues to offer readers a unique perspective on the human condition, encouraging them to explore their own faith and understanding of God in new and profound ways.
Swallow Your Pride And Tell The Truth — About Everything
If you become honest, yeah, you’ll lose some friends. There are folks who don’t want to associate with the imperfect. Say a prayer of thanks when they leave. Those are friends you’re better off without. Their departure is the Lord’s blessing on you. The happy paradox is that as you become real, as scary as that can be, you meet a battalion of kindred souls. Other scarred and messy people — they are legion — will be drawn to you.