What does it take to hear God’s voice? Does it take money and importance? Actually, the pursuit of hearing God’s voice will ultimately lead to spending less and being less. How’s that? The pursuit of God is more about subtraction than addition. The Kingdom of Heaven can be likened to a concert. Let’s say you…
Communion: Avoiding the Awkward and Encountering the Amazing
Growing up in the church, the Lord’s Supper often seemed mechanical, cold and unfamiliar to me. Why? Because it was done in a mechanical, cold, and unfamiliar way. The subtext of many of these celebrations seemed to be, “We only do this once every three months and so we barely know how this will…
The Truth About Significance
Our significance is not based: on how we look, what we do, what we achieve, how much experience we have, when we graduate, how much we make, how we play, who our friends are the things we accomplish the good deeds we do where we were born the notes we can sing or play the…
Simple is Better
The sad tale of Bernie Madoff reminds us of the hubris, greed, and tyranny that lurks in every heart of flesh. The inventor of the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme began his descent into madness out of the deep cavernous craving for more. How about us? Certainly we’re not Bernie, but a little Bernie resides in…
I Can Use THAT Guy
I am so thankful that God didn’t candy coat the chaotic journey of men in the Bible. We’re easily intimidated by guys who seem to glide through life with little mess, a perfect backyard, six-pack abs and a white-hot marriage. Instead, God gives us a book that reminds us on every page that He uses…
7 Reasons Why We Don’t Need Gun Reform
(…and why none of them make any sense to me.) (Note these are my opinions only and not necessarily the opinions of my workplace or church.) After every mass shooting we are rebuked that now is not the time to talk about gun legislation. Is there a better time? As believers, many feel a strange…
The Holy Season Begins With Stopping
As a native Louisianan, I grew up in the midst of king cake, gaudy beads, and all things purple and green. I don’t understand it all and when I ask, everyone has a different take on the nuances of this season. One thing that I love, after all the weird, freaky rites of late winter,…
The Most Surprising Thing about Family
Perhaps the most surprising thing about our journey as a family is that it is so surprising. The most predicable thing about life is its singular unpredictability. Think about all the things that you’ve experienced in your family that caused you to shake your head and say, “Well, I didn’t see that coming.” I’d venture…
Blame or Bless
There is nothing worse than the sound of cars colliding. A few weeks ago I heard the sound. It was so loud, I first thought someone had hit my car. It was on the side of a busy, complicated intersection. After the collision, a man jumped out of his car infuriated and screamed immediately about…
12 Things I’ve Learned From My Sons
As the father of four sons I’ve picked up a lot of life experiences and I understand much more about the journey to manhood than I did when I began. Here are a dozen things I learned in the process. There are a million types of odors that can emit from their bedrooms, cars and…