“Let us stand and welcome one another into the Lord’s house today.” If you grew up in Baptist church like I did, you are well aware of the time during the church services when you are asked to rise from your seat and greet visitors. You would usually turn to the person next to you or behind you and shake their hand politely and say welcome and then sit back down when the pastor prompted… … Continue reading
Maybe you’ve noticed: Everybody’s ticked off about stuff. All the time. Slate.com even named last year the “Year of Outrage”, complete with a handy, interactive calendar that lets you pick any day of 2014, and it’ll tell you what everyone was ticked off about on that very day on Twitter. A few weeks ago, I released a book called Unoffendable, and it’s about anger. It’s about “righteous anger”. It’s about Jesus, too. And that’s the… … Continue reading
A young man came online searching for help. He was so overwhelmed by his parents fighting he was looking for ways to help their marriage and his family, even though he was only 13. He was reluctant to click the “Chat Now” button, but he mustered the courage and began a conversation. He said that within 5 minutes he felt cared for. A few minutes later and he was asking questions about faith and the… … Continue reading
https://soundcloud.com/waymedia/no-easy-answers-in-the-face-of-evil#t=0:15 The Bible doesn’t avoid what happened last night, so I know God doesn’t avoid what happened last night. Is the book of Psalms, David grapples with, “God, where are you?” “Why is this happening?” “Where did you go?” “How come you didn’t step in in this situation?” I actually draw peace from that, even though I’d like things to be tied up in a bow. Some people will do that to you. They’ll just… … Continue reading
There’s evil in this world. There are bad people and they do bad things to good people. It shouldn’t happen and we all grieve when it does. But inside of this you still have to be mindful of the fact that evil doesn’t win and it doesn’t own this. It can be redeemed, it can be reclaimed. Obviously that doesn’t make the pain any less for anyone going through this who has lost friends or… … Continue reading
As kids we believed we had the power to declare “Do over!” when something didn’t turn out the right way. We’d stand in the street and boot a second attempt at kickball. We’d crumple up a piece of paper when the dog’s head ended up lopsided and scribble all over on a new one. We were not afraid to try again. Somewhere along the way to adulthood we forgot we still have permission to do that.… … Continue reading
It’s fair if you are presently thinking, Wait! Are we not supposed to be angry at injustice? Are you crazy? We’re not. But this does not make me crazy. The fact that I enjoy puppetry when no one else is looking? That makes me crazy. My daily habit of eating an entire loaf of burnt toast every morning for ten years? Yes, that qualifies me. Sure. You got me. But this? No. It’s not as… … Continue reading
Everywhere we go in Zambia, we gather quite a crowd. The kids follow us and, sometimes, are chased by us. I am guilty of that one. As we walk along the dirt paths in their village, we often stop to talk to the families about their different situations and more specifically about their water needs, since that is what Blood Water does best. Most will say, “we need safe water so our kids will not… … Continue reading
Today was such a cool day and yet so frustrating to me. We went out to a drill rig to see a new well being dug. (My honey even got to help!) The really neat part is that, not only will a community get to use this, but it’s been placed right next to a school that was built in 2001. The frustrating thing is that just 200 feet from the school, you can see… … Continue reading
If you’ve played a part in our Compassion week, this message is for you. And we really mean it. Thanks to you, over 1,000 children have hope. More good news? There’s still time for you to get in on this life change. If you’ve ever considered sponsoring a kid through Compassion International, now’s your chance! It really does make a difference. … Continue reading
