Unmet Expectations
When I was in 8th grade my dad came home and told me we were moving. I was crushed. I don’t know how 8th grade was for you, but for me it was a magical time in my life. Things were pretty much moving along according to my 13
The Gospel Is Not An Evacuation Plan for Heaven
Nerd alert: I subscribe to Biblical Archaeology Review. I love it. Every month there’s new information about what’s been dug up and how we can learn from it. In this month’s edition there were a number of articles that dealt with death; more specifically with the afterlife. Some of
Watch your mouth
When I was a kid, if I said something inappropriate in front of my parents my dad would fire off a stern look and say “watch your mouth mister”. The implication was that I had the ability to control what came out of my mouth. As I’ve gotten older
What to do when you run out of wine
I typically officiate several weddings a year. And while I like to think everyone is there to hear me, I know the ceremony is but a 20 minute obstacle to what everyone is really there for. They’re waiting for me to shut up so they can get on to
What Is Your Chariot of Fire
In 1981 the academy award winning film, Chariots of Fire told the story of 2 British runners who competed in the Olympics. One of this week’s texts was the story of Elijah being lifted up to heaven by a Chariot with horses of fire. It made me think of
Finding The Good
In the story of creation we’re told that God created everything, but then it tells us something very peculiar. The text says "God saw all that he had made and it was very good." Gen 1:31 What a strange thing to say. Doesn’t it seem a little odd to
The Great Forgetting
A number of years ago a popular show on TV was called “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader”. The show pitted adults against 5th graders to see who could answer a variety of questions typically taught to kids during the early years of school. I watched a number
How To Love a Pizza and a Person
I want to share with you a list of some of the things I love: Pizza, mexican food, ice cream, running, my dogs Tate and Gracie, my wife, my kids, football on a Saturday afternoon, the show Survivor, Waffle House, classic rock and bourbon. If you think about it,
Words Of Blessing
When I was in seminary I served as an intern in a church where one of my responsibilities was to work with the high school youth group. A few months after I began, I was pulled into a conflict between two parents and their daughter. They asked me to
Words Of Blessing 2
The last year of my dad’s life he called to congratulate me on something good that had happened for me. I wasn’t at my desk so he left a voicemail. Because he was pretty sick I could barely hear him, but I heard just enough to know that he
