Category: Life Issues
In Hope You Have Been Saved: Suffering and Realistic Eschatology
I spoke with a friend last week, a man who has shown godly perseverance through a lot of health problems. But now he’s facing a new problem: his kids are suffering chronic pain. This has been tough on his family, he admitted to me, and tough...
The Hard Road is Where You’ll Find the Lord
Recently, there has been a lot of construction downtown where I live. Cones, dusty white rock, makeshift fences and lots of expensive equipment have lined the streets for months. This makes it difficult to drive near the downtown square, very difficult actually, because most of the...
Bearing with the Failings of the Weak
A confident man once invited the most inexperienced person in the church out for evangelism at a local park. On the drive over, they prayed and strategized a few conversation starters. The inexperienced member remained a bit fuzzy on what passages of Scripture to reference, and...
The Friendships You Can’t Keep
Yes, friends you have are SO important . . . and your family. But what about the friendships you can’t seem to keep? First, make sure you are not the problem. I once knew a couple who owned a bookstore. You had to walk between them...
Talk about Others the Way You Want Others to Talk about You
A friend and her husband recently told me the story of how they met and married. One day, sometime before they moved into a serious relationship, he called her about something completely unrelated. The phone picked up, but he soon realized that it had answered by...
Overcoming Self-Consciousness
Self-consciousness is a destroyer of authentic Christian experience. We’ve all been singing in church when all of a sudden the thought races by: “Look at me here singing. I’m enjoying this.” And from that moment on your joy in singing is somehow less real than it...
Three Non-negotiables for Christians In the Upcoming Presidential Election
It is a blessing to live in a country where citizens are free to participate in the political process, deciding through a voting system who governs and, to some degree, how they govern. It is also a reality that even this comparatively good system is not...
Production or Virtue?
We are fanatics for productivity. Some of us are like miniature corporations ticking off our project objectives and meeting our target points. And for many, productivity is the canon for self-evaluation. I started to realize this about myself early in my marriage when I would get...
Reclaiming Your Eyes from Pornography
I used to watch my dad brand cattle. I still remember the awful smell. The bovines would wail at the momentary pain, and the smoke from singed hair and burnt cowhide would rise into the afternoon sun. One by one the cattle would file through to...
You May Not Be Meant to Be Great
Americans like to champion the “American Dream,” which, I would say, is being able to be whoever you want. For most people, being whoever you want means being great; being famous; being rich and well-known. But as I carry on through life and study more of...
