Preacher Teacher
The purpose of a preacher is to persuade. The purpose of a teacher is to make students ready to engage. I’m a teacher. I’m also a pastor, so many people call what I do on Sunday mornings preaching. But it’s not—not any more
What God Wants
I’ve often heard pastors and televangelists talking about what God wants. What God wants us to do or feel or say or [mostly] give. I’ve always thought it fairly presumptuous to claim to know what God wants from our perch
Lenny
I had just hit snooze on the phone alarm a few minutes ago and was still lying there in that early morning half awareness. And I wasn’t thinking of it at the time, but I’d lit a nine-minute fuse that
What Change May Come
I don’t envy people my age who find themselves dating again…or still. Dating is hard enough at any age–like being on permanent audition. But older we get, seems our attitudes and eccentricities, like our skin, become increasingly non-elastic, already stretched over
After the Mugging
There's an old saying—actually I'm not sure how old it is—but it is a saying, and it goes: A conservative is just a liberal who got mugged. Now I know that half of you reading this are already traveling down
Momentary Meaning
Off to the mountains last week. All the pieces were in place: rented house at Big Bear Lake for four days, my wife Marian, our fourteen year old son, and his grandparents. Our son is one of the quietest kids you’ll
Zero Sum and Abundance
In our modern western economy, our understanding of life itself revolves around zero sum, legality, and scarcity. On the other hand in God’s economy, Jesus is painting a very different picture of his and our Father constantly throughout the Bible. When
Sharing Meaning
Communication is such a fragile thing. Often an exhausting thing. How close do we ever get to saying what we really mean? Or hearing what was really meant? Conversations, like wrestlers circling each other on the mat, moving in closer with
A Submarine Moment
An image sticks with me. Sitting in a group discussing the importance of presence in our lives, we talked about how rarely our thoughts are actually filled with only what we’re doing at the moment—who we’re with. I ask each person
Manufactured Moments
I got an email from a good friend who wrote, “Some days I am worried about the future of our finances, my relationships, my kids, or the health of those I love. Other days I am just content to have
