Ancient Paths for Seeking God (Part 1)
In the last few years, I have discovered some well-trod paths for seeking God and enjoying His presence. Some are centuries old. Others are millennia. I have found them so valuable that I want to share them in the next few posts. This first one is called lectio divina. Lectio divina is the Latin term […]
The Worst Way To Gain Followers — and the Best
Whether it’s musicians, authors, churches, entrepreneurs, businesses, or politicians, everyone is interested in gaining a following. Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and email lists become critical to this in our social media age. There is nothing inherently wrong with growth per se, but I am struck by how much of our thinking here contrasts to Jesus. […]
Four Ways We Resist God
The idea of resisting God may seem ridiculous at first. After all, how can something created resist its Creator? How can the lesser push back against the greater? But the testimony of Scripture and the stories of our lives attest to the fact that we do in fact resist God. I want to state it […]
The Terror (and Wonder) of Silence
What would you do if you had one hour or one day of total silence? No books, no music, no phones, no computers, no TV, no movies, no conversation, no stimulation — nothing but the inner whisperings of your soul? What would you do? What would you think? What would you feel? I know what I felt […]
Why Men Don’t Read — And Three Reasons They Need To
One of the constant conversations I have with men is the stress they feel at work. They are expected to do more on the job with less help. They feel pressured to email and text on weekends. Margins for rest erode. Time to re-create is pushed aside. And one of those things pushed aside is […]
Three Ways Reading Stories Can Heal The Soul
When I sit down and read a story, I am never quite sure what is going to happen. Near the end of one tale I read of a 13-year old boy, I broke into sobs. A 1000-page novel so entranced me the first time I read it that I decided to read it two more […]
The Most Watched Movie of All Time
Sometimes in my classes to students or adults, we would take up the topic of famous movies. I would first have them guess the most popular movies of all time. Then I would reveal the top four based on ticket sales adjusted for inflation: #1 and the winner goes to Gone With the Wind, #2 […]
Let Freedom Ring!
Today is staked out each year to celebrate the historic freedoms Americans share together. We do well to remember these freedoms of which many in human history have been deprived: the freedom of religion, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press, to name a few. Others are enshrined […]