In May of 2017 in a garden-variety suburb in a garden-variety state in America, a country which contains 321 million people, in a world which contains around 7 billion people, a starling died in a dryer vent and God noticed. His authority and His power do not render Him distant even from the smallest details. [Click title to read more.]
Category: grace
He Is There. Because He Wants To Be.
I marvel perpetually at God and His endless, endless patience for our shenanigans. [Click title to read more.]
Holy Squirrels
It's true that sometimes God may direct us here or there to do a particular thing and give us awareness of that. But I also think that more often than not God intends to use our normal and our very unremarkable lives - often when we're not looking or paying attention - to change the world. [Click title to read more.]
Confronting Paul’s Freedom in Christ
Often, when I read Paul's letters, I wonder: did Paul ever struggle with guilt? Did he ever think of Stephen's radiant face, and Stephen's forgiveness, and Stephen's broken, mangled body? Did he hate himself for approving of it? Did he ever look at himself admonishing churches and marvel that he had the gall to do it after the atrocities he'd committed? [Click title to read more.]
What The Open Door Means
The lingering image in the story of the concubine is a woman desperately trying to get inside. But the lingering image of the salvation story is the temple curtain torn in two from top to bottom. It was not enough for God merely to open the door for those who wanted in; He destroyed the door completely and annihilated the barriers keeping you out. [Click title to read more.]
What It Really Means To Overlook Offense
We Christians like to think we're good at forgiving. We aren't, for a lot of reasons. [Click title to read more.]
Congratulations On Doing What You’re Supposed To Do
We tend to celebrate the bare minimum as being exceptional, without realizing that we've simply set the bar so low for ourselves that we've made the bare minimum look like an accomplishment when it's not. [Click title to read more.]
Putting Down The Bullhorn To Focus On Your Own Sin
We must call out ourselves the way we would call out others before we call out others at all. [Click title to read more.]
How Forgiveness Makes Space for Honesty
Because I'm a college professor, I assign homework. Students are not into this. A few years ago, one of my students was so not into this that she forgot to write down the page numbers of the reading assignment. Logging on to the forum for our class online, she promptly wrote an email that she … Continue reading How Forgiveness Makes Space for Honesty
A Request for Your Testimony!
For Thanksgiving I'd love to put up a post celebrating God's grace in honor of the season. In what spiritual ways has Christ blessed you this year? [Click title to read more.]
Samaritan's Song 