The thoughts running through my head make me sick to my stomach. The kind of sick that causes me to want to shake it up and do whatever it takes to purge myself of the crap (yeah, I said it) that spoils everything else that’s in there. And I’m blaming Jen Hatmaker. I read something [...]
Feb 22, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, book reviews, READ, the latest, worldviews | Tags: 7, books, excess, group blogging, jen hatmaker, lent, seven, talents, wealth | 5 Comments »
It’s Saturday morning, and I’m taking care of the kids. Not just my nine year-old son and nine month-old daughter, but two of my nephews had just spent the night too. They all just finished breakfast and the boys were looking for something to do. “Hey Uncle Dan. Can Samuel watch Scooby Doo 2?” Hmmm… [...]
Feb 06, 2012 | Categories: headline, READ, the latest, worldviews | Tags: bible passages, biblical truths, ephesians 4, filmmakers, focus on the family, harry potter books, pluggedin online, questionable content, romans 12, scooby doo, scooby doo 2, spiritual content, tv programs | Leave A Comment »
For the record, I hate talking about politics. Specifically, I hate how divided people become when talking about politicians and how they deal with the issues. I know that ‘hate’ is a pretty strong word, and I rarely use it around here. But I feel like it’s important for people to understand that by sharing [...]
Feb 03, 2012 | Categories: activist faith, engaged in culture, SERVE, the latest, worldviews | Tags: barack obama, faith, goodwill, governmental policies, hearts, legislating morality, love, national prayer breakfast, politicians | 5 Comments »
During the month when my book finally came out in a print version, I’m not surprised that it was the best-seller in this month’s list of stuff that our readers are picking up. But one thing I think is nice to see in this month’s list is a focus on three key themes… Missions and [...]
Feb 02, 2012 | Categories: headline, READ, the latest | Tags: american pilgrimage, bryant l myers, christian faith, dave kraft, joan chittister, jud wilhite, lists, missionary, monastery, paul elie, poverty, print books, uncensored truth | Leave A Comment »
Other women love their churches and their people, but they know they aren’t being given the opportunity to think, strategize, innovate, and create new ways of doing church that both men and women find appealing. Often when they have expressed their desire for more influence, they were blocked, stonewalled, or stalled. These women have acquiesced [...]
Feb 01, 2012 | Categories: book reviews, READ, the latest | Tags: churches, eve, Jim Henderson, leadership, men and women, The Resignation of Eve, tyndale, typical church, women's roles | Leave A Comment »
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV) Then the angel showed me [...]
Jan 30, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, the latest, worldviews | Tags: accursed, adam and eve, condemnation, genesis, guilt, healing of the nations, judgement, lamb, lord god, moral compass, nakedness, revelation, sinfulness, throne of god, tree of life, walk with god, water of life | 4 Comments »
Reading blogs gives me a chance to step into the lives of others. I often come across many Christians who bash gathering in church for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are painfully legitimate and some are simply unwilling to stay and make a difference because they come to be served, instead of [...]
Jan 26, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, SERVE, the latest, what's hot, worldviews | Tags: atonement, authenticity, bible, blogs, christian churches, christians, church bashing, church hopping, cliques, good intentions, Jesus, mormon, mormons, testimony | 2 Comments »
I was at the drug store yesterday, in line for a prescription, and a woman in a purple jacket melted down…. just… went to pieces right there in the prescription line. “I can’t DO THIS ANYMORE!” She screamed at the stunned cashier, who blinked quickly while everyone stood there staring, watching Purple Jacket Lady hurtle [...]
Jan 25, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, engaged in culture, the latest, what's hot | Tags: anxiety, brokenness, differences, failure, fear, grace, Jesus, love, poverty | 9 Comments »
Jehovah Rapha. Among many other things, God reveals and refers to Himself as the Lord our Healer. So Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water turned sweet. That’s the place where God set up rules and procedures; that’s where he started testing [...]
Jan 18, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, ministry, the latest | Tags: christian history, exodus 15, faith healing, hand of god, healer, healing power, healings, jehovah rapha, john alexander dowie, medical explanation, miraculous healing, practicing medicine, prayer to god, restorer, testimony of god | 10 Comments »
On Guilt: “It is about as hard to absolve yourself of your own guilt as it is to sit in your own lap. Wrongdoing sparks guilt sparks wrongdoing ad nauseam, and we all try to disguise the grim process from both ourselves and everybody else. In order to break the circuit we need friends before [...]
Jan 17, 2012 | Categories: authentic christianity, life of worship, PRAY, spiritual practice, the latest | Tags: buechner, faith, God, guilt, guiltiness, Jesus, mental peace, presence, smile, spiritual health, stranger, vicious circle | 5 Comments »
I read an article in USA Today that talked about the rise of the ‘So Whats.’ What’s that? It’s people who do not claim to be a people of faith or staunch atheists; instead, they are a growing group who say, “So what?” As one person interviewed said, “(Growing up) I was saturated with both [...]
Jan 11, 2012 | Categories: engaged in culture, the latest, worldviews | Tags: apathy, atheist, atheists, baylor university, church planter, eternal wisdom, followers of jesus, lifeway, personal authority, personal experience, religious identity, research survey, scripture and tradition, secularization, unanswerable questions, unseen friends, usa today, young adults | 7 Comments »
We like to read around here. AND… I’m kind of a geek for reports. I gain a great deal of understanding about what makes this place tick when I look at things like search engine keyword reports that tell me how people get here. One of the reports that I’ve looked at recently is my [...]
Jan 07, 2012 | Categories: READ, the latest | Tags: amazon affiliates, brother lawrence, christian martyr, darrell hammond, dave kraft, david platt, finding god, gregory a boyd, john fox, list, mark batterson, practice of the presence of god, presence of God, radical idea, saturday night live, uncensored truth | 4 Comments »
It’s been an incredible year! We officially moved to a multi-blogger format. We passed over 1,000 posts and half a million published words. And we’ve experienced continued, steady growth (over 70% per year for each of the last three years). We’ve even released the first book in the BibleDude Series… The Unlikley Missionary: From Pew-Warmer [...]
Dec 26, 2011 | Categories: PRAY, READ, SERVE, the latest | Tags: lists | 18 Comments »
READ 1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. [...]
Dec 24, 2011 | Categories: orphan care, poverty, PRAY, READ, SERVE, the latest | Tags: 1 john, advent series, child sponsorship, encouraging word, eternal life, H.E.L.P., happiness, help one now, Jesus, life, peace that surpasses all understanding, prayer, precious gifts, son of god, testimony | 6 Comments »
Historically, Luke has been symbolized by a winged ox or bull. It’s a figure of sacrifice, service and strength. These are the three qualities about Luke the New Testament writer that stand out the most as I try to imagine what his life would have been like. Stepping into the work that he was about [...]
Dec 23, 2011 | Categories: authentic christianity, bible literacy, ministry, READ, the latest | Tags: athlete, bible, book of acts, challenges, god in the world, journey, new testament, ox, saint luke, selfless service | Leave A Comment »
Some of us obtain success rather quickly. We’ve just been accepted to the college our dreams, we’ve gotten the job of our dreams, we’re making awesome money, we have awesome friends, and/or our churches are GREAT while they are preaching the word earnestly and serving the community. We get so geeked to be alive in this world! Many [...]
Dec 21, 2011 | Categories: devotional, the latest | Tags: blessings, dreams, hearts, humanitarian aid, Isaiah 12:3, Job 8:11-13, John 4:14, John 7:37-39, living water, material possessions, prestige, relationship with god, Revelation 22:17 | 2 Comments »
READ Psalm 18:28 For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness. Psalm 27 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, [...]
Dec 18, 2011 | Categories: PRAY, READ, SERVE, the latest | Tags: advent, adversaries, beauty of the lord, evildoers, faithfulness, god of my salvation, goodness of the lord, lord is my light, lord is my light and my salvation, lord my god, psalm 18, psalm 27, psalm 36, shouts of joy, stronghold | Leave A Comment »
I’ve noticed in my life that sometimes I don’t enter conflicts well. Even if I have good intentions, many times I enter conflict primarily to elevate my pain or hurt without acknowledging the other person’s pain or hurt. What about you? I don’t think we do this on purpose. It can be difficult to think [...]
Dec 17, 2011 | Categories: authentic christianity, devotional, for reflection, the latest | Tags: 1 corinthians 1, broken relationships, conflict, conflicts, difficult relationships, false doctrine, God, good intentions, immorality, neighbors, pride, relationship, religious practices, sinful practices | Leave A Comment »
In this season of Advent we are reminded of what it means to wait for something special. We generally reflect upon the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how the ancient Jewish people waited for their messiah. We also consider the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our own waiting for [...]
Dec 16, 2011 | Categories: authentic christianity, bible literacy, READ, the latest, theology | Tags: christians, disciples, gragoreo, greek word, Gregoreuo, mark 13, Mark 13:32-37, messiah, return of christ, season of advent, second coming, son of man, watching | 2 Comments »
Creativity. Artist. Church. Bible. Creation. Creator. Throw all these words together in an explanatory fashion and I want to read what you have to say. And this is exactly what Sam did. And as I turned each page of Creative Theology, I found myself gaining a new insight into the relationship between all those words. [...]
Dec 13, 2011 | Categories: book reviews, creativity and art, the latest | Tags: creative beauty, desire, fashion, heart, innate creativity, insight, inspiration, reflection, relationship, steward, theology | 4 Comments »
Just a thought. . . I’ve been thinking about what it means to know and if I’m not sure about a number of things, I’m sure of this: to know is to be able to help someone to know too. Now I’m not playing with words, but seriously, I have had my share of teachers who appear [...]
Dec 12, 2011 | Categories: authentic christianity, engaged in culture, the latest | Tags: bible dictionary, cliches, concordance, experiences, faith, Jesus, pulpit, simple truth, theologies, wisdom | 4 Comments »
READ Psalm 29 Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. The voice [...]
Dec 11, 2011 | Categories: PRAY, READ, SERVE, the latest | Tags: advent, christmas, god of glory, isaiah 53, Jesus, luke 2, peace, peacemaker, psalm 29 | Leave A Comment »
And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. ~ Matthew 14:21 Source: MankindToons.com (used with permission)
Dec 09, 2011 | Categories: bible literacy, creativity and art, the latest | Tags: bread, cheesecake, fish, five thousand, Jesus, mankind toons, Matthew 14:21 | 2 Comments »
How often do we juggle the world’s (or our culture’s) way and Christ’s way? How often do we juggle the notion, “Should I keep this money and spend it on myself or should I give it to those who happen to be less fortunate or to my church?” How often do we act without guidance [...]
Dec 06, 2011 | Categories: authentic christianity, devotional, the latest | Tags: enemies, faith, guidance, holy spirit, human ability, lack of knowledge, living in christ, steadfastness | Leave A Comment »