Posts
Lessons Learned in Quarantine
These are strange times. It’s been less than two weeks since I first wrote about COVID-19 and my life has certainly not become less strange since. After some potential exposure, our family decided to self-quarantine; just a few days later, the governor issued a...
How Should We Respond to COVID-19?
When I first heard about the coronavirus, I wasn’t worried. It was happening in China, far from home, and probably wasn’t a big deal there, anyway. Remember Ebola and the swine flu? Case in point. It was never a big deal, at least not close to home. If it came up in...
History Demands Humility
To the extent that we understand both the breadth and the length of the story of humanity, we must draw back from the pride of the present. As humans, we naturally idolize the Now. I was recently at the ruins of ancient Jerash, a Roman city in modern-day Jordan. I...
In Pursuit of Pleasure
A common conundrum faced by Christians and Church leaders today is what to do with the myriad pleasures and pastimes that people pursue. How do we relate to activities that are not sin (and therefore not outright forbidden) but are still things of this world that...
Enduring Suffering: A Personal Journey
For many of us, the problem of suffering is not an abstract, theoretical question. It’s all too real. How can it be true that God loves us, or that the Bible’s promises are true, or that there is any actual “hope,” in the middle of intense suffering or tragedy? The...
The Necessity of a Daily Connection
If you read my last two posts, I attempted to make some helpful observations on the positive and negative aspects of tradition. I barely scratched the surface. I’ve enjoyed lively discussions, both within our team and with some of you readers. Many questions have...
Short-Term Missions: My Story and Thoughts
There I was, eighteen years old, standing beside a middle-aged Mexican lady while watching my hosts drive off and leave me with strangers in a little Mexican village. It was my first afternoon in Mexico, and, already, I was feeling a teeny tiny bit overwhelmed. I had...
The Danger of Leaving Tradition
In my last post, I discussed some of the dangers of tradition. In the attempt to maintain points of doctrine or practice, it’s easy to lose sight of the Biblical reasons we hold our beliefs in the first place. Even when issues are correctly understood, they can be...
A Fundamental Philosophy of Fun
“ So, I know this isn’t the right question to ask, but… what is actually wrong with it?” The question, which came from one of my eighth graders, was about an activity that another authority in his life had forbidden. I don’t remember exactly what the activity was or...
4 Ways Tradition Can Be Dangerous
It would be nice if life were simple. There are so many paths we can take in life, so many conflicting ideas. Choosing to seek for truth doesn’t make the journey easy or self-evident. In a complicated world, it’s hard to know who we should trust. That’s why there is...
