Giving God My Emptiness
My leadership at my church feels fruitless; my last few sermons stank; in the first 34 weeks of this year, I published only 25 “weekly” articles; and …
Broken Answers
I broke my leg skiing during my senior year in high school. It was the last run of the day (apparently, when you break a leg skiing, it’s always the …
CEO Jesus
Last week a friend forwarded to me a podcast in which a megachurch pastor was interviewed about his handling of COVID. The well-known pastor had made …
Lady, You Are So Lucky!
Years ago, I attended a Friday night high school prayer meeting. One evening a young woman stood up and said that she ran a red light on the way to …
Living A Legacy Life
A few years ago I published, Mission Idolatry. My point was that our deepest worship is not expressed by the twenty minutes of Sunday morning singing, …
Insidious Creep
When I was in ninth grade, I attended a weekly prayer group. After a meeting one Friday evening, a young woman asked for prayer to address her extreme …
Fear of Fruitlessness
Last week God shocked me with two verses spoken to one of his prophets: “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You …
The Fear of Risk
Years ago, I went scuba diving into a shark-feeding frenzy with two of my kids. We descended sixty feet to the ocean floor, knelt in a large circle, …
Practicing Godless Faith
I once met an elder who was in deep distress because of his faith. Six years ago, his small but growing church received tithes that exceeded two …
The Cowardice of Christian Niceness
Many years ago, a young man was transferred to my department. During his first annual review with me, he asked why his raises had been consistently …
Try Confession Without Repentance
Several years ago, I repented to God for something small. I hadn’t stolen candy from a baby, oppressed a widow, or coveted a neighbor’s cow. I had …
Walking A Tightrope
Charles Blondin was a famous pioneer of tightrope walking (which, if you care, is properly called “funambulism,” and which I take to mean the …