Learning from a Pandemic

Dr. Pat Keifert of Church Innovations One of my favourite Missional Theology Yoda Masters is Dr. Pat Keifert of Luther Seminary. He would say there are two kinds of change: continuous change (e.g. from winter into spring) and discontinuous change, which is what we’re dealing with right now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing about our …

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Being Childish

There is a short but familiar story in Luke 18:15-17 where we see Jesus receiving little children. Right before that, Jesus finished his his parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector with the words “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but whoever humbles themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14b) and then almost as …

Is Steve Jobs a Great Guy or Not?

This month's WIRED magazine features an article written by Ben Austen on former Apple CEO Steve Jobs that perfectly illustrates Western culture's completely schizophrenic attitude toward morality. Is Steve Jobs a great guy or not? Well that depends on your point of view. The article brings up a bunch of stories from Job's biography written …

Resurrection

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she …

The Church as the Image of God

Back to blog writing... After having a week of stresses big and small, good and bad, (a term paper, struggling families, a new nephew,  needing a new roof, etc.) I suffered my greatest wound receiving an eight word email that cut me to the quick and took me days to get over. I am encouraged …

The Most Subversive Protest Yet

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the gospel on display in Egypt. Christian churches were bombed by terrorists and the 90% of Egypt's population that is Muslim expressed their outrage by attending Christian Mass on Eastern Orthodox Christmas Day (Jan 7) to keep extremists from bombing again. I read today that on last …

Don't Put God First

. . . . . . Among believers there is general agreement that God is ultimate. But we have to be careful how we express it. Our words convict us. One pastor put it like this: The bottom line is that we are to put spiritual values above temporal values. Serving God and being obedient …

A Whispered Psalm of Hope

Psalm 16 is called a "Mikhtam" of David and no one is sure what that means. “Mikhtam,” is also used before Psalms 56 - 60 and all six of these Psalms are cries for help that are written when the writer is in danger. You can't cry out loud so your protest is "Mikhtam" (covered); …

God At Work

The Psalmist nailed it, "My soul is weary with sorrow..." Pslm 119:28 . I am sick of grieving.  God has been gracious enough to give me a month between these two dark nights of the soul (first Jeremy's funeral last month and now this); but it's not enough. I don't want to do another funeral, …

Satan's Favourite Tool

If you ever see that there hasn't been a post on this blog in a while, do me a favour and send me an email and just tell me to, "just write part of it."  I have a 12 o00 word post partially written and I just can't get it out.  I don't know when …