What do your greatest victories in sports, your favorite teachers in school and your greatest accomplishments as a professional, all have in common? Consider the following: On Friday night I watched the football team, at the school where I work, compete against its rival. After our team won, the
I know someone who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I asked her if it was hard. She said it was hardest thing she’d ever done. Oxygen was low. Altitude sickness was awful. She completed the climb. She got a t-shirt that says she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and wears it proudly. I
I went to a conference not long ago. While there, I got some fantastic ideas. I was inspired by the passion of the speakers. I was excited by the sessions I attended. I vowed I would return home and implement what I learned in a way that would revolutionize
Here’s an understatement.; religion has a checkered past. All religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, to name a few, have chapters they’d rather forget, followers they’d rather not claim. There’s no way around it. Religious history is filled with examples of faith expression gone wrong. I once had a student
My first year out of seminary I worked in a church as an associate pastor. I remember the first time we did a baptism. The senior pastor told me to get some water to use for baptizing the baby that morning. I was a little unsure where to go.
I recently heard about a man whose mother had passed away. He’s Jewish and he went to the traditional prayer service at which they say something called the Kaddish. The Kaddish is the prayer recited in memory of the dead. However, the man whose mother had passed said that
What a strange world it is God has created. God could’ve set up the world any way he wanted and yet he chose to create a world where we have to work to hear, discern and follow his will. Think about that for a moment. Wouldn’t it be a
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
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
There have been a number of times in my life when I’ve felt sorry for myself. Perhaps there have been moments that you too have felt at least a little bit of self- pity. And why not? The profession you love is not what it once was. Your marriage
