Courage and Cowardice
The worst riot in Detroit’s history broke out the summer of 1967: forty-three people were killed and over eleven hundred injured. As the violence …
Beliefs of the Heart
As Long as We Both Shall Live
Last weekend my wife and I attended two weddings. Both couples used traditional vows: To have and to hold, from this day forward, For better and for …
Wait For It
Eight years ago, my niece Amy married Nathan, a great guy. They moved into a starter home in the country. Over time, and with the addition of a son …
Deathbed Advice
My father died twenty years ago last Friday, April Fool’s Day, 1996. (I often wonder if he planned that day.) A week before his death, knowing his …
The Nonsense of S.M.A.R.T. Sense
Is modern business wisdom destroying Christian spirituality? Oswald Chambers once asked, “[Do we consider ourselves] so amazingly important that we …
Navigating The Mountain of Biblical Authority
My daughter’s boyfriend, Matt, works in the High-Tech Performance Apparel industry. (I always thought the height of high-tech apparel was the Converse …
The Hope of Our Suffering
As a college student, I wanted to spend a summer abroad, but money was so tight that Raman noodles were my Sunday treat. I found a communal farm in …
Learning to Doubt our Doubts
My natural inclination is to believe life will turn out just fine; I lean towards the positive. It’s not that I think every day will be sunshine and …
Seeing God Through His Metaphors
A friend once told me of a dark moment in his life, a time when he felt alone, frightened, and falling apart. He described his interior life like …
Hearing God to See Him
Thirty-three years ago I took a woman to a Gilbert and Sullivan play as a first date. Before the evening of our get-together, I had a collection of …
Squeezing Bad News from the Good News
Last spring I attended a wedding and heard an impressive pastor preach a stirring sermon on a powerful passage called The Kenosis (or The Emptying). …
Let’s Rethink the Way We Think
Circumstances, commitments, and surprises (the unpleasant kind) overwhelmed me the past six weeks. I had too much to do and too little time to do it. …