Love covers a multitude of sins. If one of your relationships can't tolerate something that has happened, then there's not enough love in it. What are you to do when you discover this? I think we all have two options: toss the relationship, or invest in it. One of those options is going to cost us a lot more than the other.
Read MoreReligious people have given God a really bad rep. He's often made out to be this angry, insecure, self-centered guy who imposes arbitrary rules on humanity. No wonder a lot of people don't want to have anything to do with him. But what if God was more like a kid running into the sunset? Free, full of hope and life and dreams and joy. That's the God that scripture shows us through Jesus. Playful, passionate, and free. And he invites us to live in freedom as well.
Read MoreFollow your dreams, live your passion, be a person of purpose... they told us a bunch of this stuff, but I never had a clue what my passions or purpose was. Now that some years have passed, here's my advice: don't wait for anyone to reveal your destiny to you, just go out there and live. Experience things, try new stuff, be a person that leans forward, rather than holding back. Don't sit around doing nothing out of fear of missing out on "God's plan." God is out there, and he wants you to play with him.
Read MoreSpend any amount of time with honest humans and you'll discover an important fact of life: it often sucks. People can be jerks, plans don't always work out, dreams often don't come true... and then you brush your teeth and go to bed and it all starts again. Now, I'm an optimist and my life is also filled with hope, but I can't deny the reality that life includes a lot of hard times. So what do we do when life sucks? Here's my plan of attack.
Read MoreI grew up sort of non-denominational Charismatic with missionary Baptist and Presbyterian influences (the simplest label would be Evangelical). Most of us who have grown up in the shadow of the Evangelical church are needlessly afraid of 1700 years of Christian history, including Lent. But Lent isn't something anyone needs to feel threatened by or afraid of. It's really quite special, actually.
Read MoreToday I watched YouTube videos to figure out how to cut my son's hockey stick down to size, and two girls from down the street came over to show me how to put all his gear on in the right order. I was reminded of our good Father, who provides the equipment, the training, and the community to prepare us for new adventures. Our challenge is to figure out how to have fun while we get ready.
Read MoreYou carry within you great gifts, gifts that the world needs. Gifts that can only be brought into the world through great pain. Are you willing to endure the pain of waiting, the pain of maturation, the pain of character development, the pain of rejection, so that the gift you carry can be brought forth into the world?
Read MoreI think each one of us has some kind of favourite music. Something that triggers things in our body and our soul, that makes us come alive in a unique way. For me, that's dance music. Trance, house, EDM, if it's got a 4/4 beat and synthesizer, I'm hooked. But most worship music doesn't sound like that. If you don't like folk-rock ballads then just about all modern worship music probably doesn't really do it for you either. What to do?
Read MoreWe can interact with Jesus in many different ways. Spiritually, mystically, communally, obediently, bodily... but it's all a manifestation of the the same thing. Everything we do for one another is serving God himself, and when we serve God alone in worship and adoration, we also serve each other.
Read MoreLife is full of amazing, beautiful things for us to enjoy. I've always thought this... but a couple of years back I got stuck. Some hard stuff had happened, and the blows were too much for my emotions to deal with. I was sad but I didn't realize it, so I got angry but I didn't realize that either. So I was depressed and that was all I knew.
Read MoreYour parents aren't the enemy. Your spouse isn't the enemy. That man who abused you isn't even the enemy. You and I all have only one enemy, and his name is Satan. He would like you focus your attention and aggression on everyone else. But he is our only enemy, and every single one of us is a victim of his violence and deceit. When we understand this we can begin to dismantle our walls and extend grace and forgiveness and mercy to everyone else who has been victimized.
Read MoreGod created us (which includes you) to be the object of his love and affection. He created you just so that he could get to pour out his love on you. It's his joy and his privilege. He created you to be the recipient of his love, forever. And that means...
Read MoreYou are a free and powerful person, and within the bounds of the law and of love, just about anything goes for you. Your parents can't dictate your life for you. Your religious community can't dictate what is appropriate for you to do and what isn't. Don't reject wise advice or sound counsel don't be a slave to the machine either. You get to choose.
Read MoreGod was moved by Abraham's willingness, but he wasn't asking him to kill his son. God never asks us to put our children in the fire. God always provides the sacrifice himself and he too is the burning fire. His invitation is for us to enter his burning presence, lay down our lives and dreams, and be transformed into beings far more capable of seeing those dreams become reality.
Read MoreWhy does God speak? Because God wants us to know love. All communication that comes from God is designed to draw us into relationship with the Trinity. Relationship is God's major purpose. For that reason, all prophecy is best interpreted as an invitation to learn more about the character of God and respond to it.
Read MoreGoogle is estimated to have something like 30 million hard drives across their entire operation globally. That means, by statistical analysis, that Google can expect a hard drive to fail once every 6 seconds. Which is about how often we screw up as well.
Read MoreDuring my travels, what I discovered is that what's appropriate to wear in any given context differs widely from culture to culture. Dissonance occurs when what you feel is appropriate differs with what someone else feels is appropriate. Rather than acknowledge that we are experiencing cultural dissonance, we tend to project our own cultural values upon others, and use that as the basis for our judgement. Rather than accept the judgements our mind makes up, God invites us to have our minds constantly renewed.
Read MoreMany women I talk to tell me they married expecting a best friend, a confidant, a spiritual warrior, and a cuddle-bunny, all rolled into one. Many men I talk to tell me they were expecting a Godly but nymphomaniac sex vixen, the "righteous fox" promised by youth pastors, who would validate them at every turn and support all their crazy dreams. It seems that most of us were sold a bill of goods that didn't quite match up with our expectations.
Read MoreThis post includes massive spoilers for the movie Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. I'm not talking about minor plot details, I'm talking BIG SPOILERY SPOILERS... secrets will be revealed. So don't read on if you haven't seen the film or don't want it to be ruined. Ready? Dive in.
Read MoreHurt, and the avoidance of future hurt, can be the biggest factor that challenges our growth to maturity. The more we shy away from pain, the more we insulate ourselves from the chance to grow and expand our personhood. When my grandfather died last year I had to face this challenge head on.
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