It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and I was taking the short walk to pick up my kids from school. Parents who see each other every day were walking past with their heads down. No hello or head nod, just the American silent treatment. My family was in the throes of loss from the sudden and tragic loss of my mother-in-law. As I looked around I saw the same pain we were experiencing in their…

A few years ago, my friend Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnamon wrote unChristian, a sobering commentary on Christianity’s decline in the West due to departure from the biblical vision to engage a secular world with grace and love. Similarly, Philip Yancey wrote in What’s So Amazing about Grace: When I ask people, “What is a Christian?” they don’t usually respond with words like love, compassion, grace; usually they describe a person who’s anti-something. Jesus was…

“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…

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…

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…

We’ve all experienced it. That awkward moment when well-meaning people try to comfort singles with words of hope and encouragement. Sometimes (and by sometimes I mean hardly ever), it actually does what it’s meant to do. But the other 98% of the time, it fails miserably. The problem is that good intentions don’t always translate into good communication. It’s important for those who are married to remember the struggles that may come with being single…