leaving church
Poised at the door of the church auditorium, I hesitated. Why? I realized that I didn’t want to go to church. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to any church at all. I simply no longer wanted to go to this church. My wife felt the same way. A few weeks later, after 20 years as members, we made the agonizingly painful decision to leave. But leaving is not the same as quitting.
warped view
Recently, I was talking with a friend who has been scarred by sin—things done to him by others. The effects linger, even though the actions occurred long ago. He was struggling, trying to see beyond the lies that caused him to feel unworthy of God’s grace. He felt powerless and weak, which left him vulnerable to the temptation to assuage his pain through wrong means. His identity in Jesus had been warped and weakened by his negative life experiences. So the two of us took a long look into God’s Word to view my friend’s true identity in Jesus.
isolation
In a state of exhaustion and despair, at the 5-year anniversary mark of serving in Uganda, I sent an email to friends and ministry partners pleading for prayer. In response to learning of my struggles, a small army of brothers and sisters in Christ lifted me up in prayer and helped me walk through a difficult time.
drowned by love
One of my deep joys as a pastor has been to baptize both of my sons. I have a picture taken just before I went into the baptismal pool with one of my boys. I’m crouched down, eye-to-eye. I don’t remember what I was saying, but I remember the tears. God was pouring grace on my son, and my church was welcoming him into its fold.
walls
Walls are designed to keep people safe. But walls also divide, keeping people apart. The 96-mile (155 km) Berlin Wall kept the East Germans in. The Great Wall of China, which was believed to be 5,500 miles long (8,850 km) and is now estimated to be 13,170 miles long (21,196 km), kept enemies out.
the big chill
Recently, scientists discovered the answer to why we occasionally experience that dreaded “brain freeze” when eating ice cream. The piercing pain in the ol’ temples is caused by an increase in blood flow and the enlarging of the anterior cerebral artery—located in the middle of the brain behind the eyes. This phenomenon occurs when our icy, sweet eats come into contact with the roof of our mouths and the back of our throats. How to avoid the big chill? Consider enjoying smaller bites of that Triple Thick Chocolate Explosion or whatever your favorite ice-cream flavor is!
experiencing community
Respondents to a recent Barna Group survey listed the following as key elements of their church life: connecting with God, experiencing transformation, gaining new insights, and feeling cared for. All of those things happen as individual believers come together and use their gifts to bless and edify one another.
prayer with others
Early in His earthly ministry, Jesus sat down on the side of a mountain and delivered one His most memorable and stirring sermons (Matthew 5:3–7:27). He covered a lot of ground that day, including the topic of prayer.
community
I went through a phase where I stopped going to church. I had no friends yet in the new city where I had moved and I simply didn’t want to walk into a church alone. The longer I put off taking steps to meet people and to get involved with the body of Christ in my new community, the more…
a little is too much
There’s something so tempting about the antisocial delicacy of gossip. We enjoy it, even when it makes us feel guilty and ashamed. According to researchers, however, we don’t have to feel ashamed anymore because a little gossip is healthy. The researchers believe gossip is what keeps the culture going, greasing the social machine. “It’s a social skill, not a character…
a beautiful community
In his book A Good and Beautiful Community, James Bryan Smith quotes an early Christian document known as the Letter to Diognetus (AD 120–200): “Though they are residents at home in their own countries, their behavior there is more like transients . . . they obey the prescribed laws, but in their own private lives they transcend the laws. They show…
spirit-wind
Soon after a tornado disaster in the US, I saw aerial photographs of its path. Entire neighborhoods were flattened. From the high angle of the photographer’s shot, all of the wood and debris looked like scattered, splintered toothpicks, tossed violently over a wide swath of city blocks. Devastation. Wind provides an immense source of power (which is why wind- generated…
empowered
I have a new mobile phone. No, not the much vaunted high-end smart-phone that is currently all the rage in Nairobi. What I now have is by comparison a pretty modest handset, but with two features that particularly stand out for me: the browser and the organizer.
The browser because the internet is now literally mine for the asking. I may not send…
get real
Slate magazine’s William Saletan indicts our culture stating: “Every time you answer your cell phone in traffic, squander your workday on YouTube, text a colleague during dinner, or turn on the TV to escape your kids, you’re leaving this world. You’re neglecting the people around you, sometimes at the risk of killing them.”
Wow! And he didn’t even mention the addictive…
designed for relationship
Human beings are mysteriously designed for relationship. Isolate someone in a room and eventually he or she will become stressed, and confused, and their sleep will be disturbed. The chronically isolated person will become ill more often and have a higher risk of heart disease. In fact, their genes will begin to decay—one researcher likened chronic loneliness to “premature aging.”…
