Sometimes life overwhelms. Maybe you know this feeling. There are too many meetings to attend, presentations to prepare and give, obligations to meet, and too little time to do it in. There are pressures from work, from home, from church, from social circles. For me...

What if the church was more like Chick-Fil-A? Don’t get too worked up about that comment. This is not a political commentary. I have feelings about businesses being politically conscious and active, but that’s not my point. And if I were to be completely honest, I do...

I had been traveling and going on mission trips for several years. I came into the world of mission work almost by accident. As a good, God-fearing, church-going teenager, I knew several things about mission work. First of all, I knew that all Christians were supposed...

Two men named Joseph keep pushing me. It makes me uncomfortable, but I love it. I know that sentence seems awkward and grammatically incorrect, but I'm going to keep it. I'm keeping it because I have two men named Joseph in my life who keep pushing me. They have...

I started playing guitar when I was six years old. I know that I wasn’t very good, and I am still no virtuoso, but there are few things that I love more than playing guitar. I started loving country music when I was 16 years old. The late 70’s was an odd time to be a...

Tim is a long-time friend, one of my longest friendships. We first met over 30 years ago when we were attending seminary together. We share many of the same values, beliefs, and convictions. We were both pastors serving small churches in rural communities.  Being...

High school was a long time ago for me. Although the memories are clear and feel recent, the calendar indicates that it has been a few decades now. (Shocking, I know!)  I know I’m the same person in all the essential ways – I have the same body (although the...

I am different than anyone else I know. God makes every human different. Oh sure, there are some things that we all have in common, but as I have aged I have begun to celebrate the diversity in humanity. A part of that process is to begin to understand how it is that...

I am a bleeding heart who always wants to think the best of everyone. I am always interested in giving second chances and allowing others the “benefit of the doubt.”  But it isn’t just my personal constitution that makes me this way. I am a United Methodist. A...

I have declared for myself that 2019 will be a year of spiritual growth.  This means that I will be doing things throughout the year that will help me grow closer to God. I want to be more Christ-like when we get to the end of this year than I was at the...

The words “attitude check” were terrifying to me. Oh, it didn’t start out that way. Initially, it was just a harmless game that one of the members of my youth group was playing. She would call out “Attitude check!” and the rest of us were to respond by shouting,...

Seinfeld is the best American television program ever. I know that there is no objective way to determine the quality or inherent “goodness” of one show over another, but I have maintained for the last 20 years or so that this statement is true. In fact, I think that...

For several years I have been involved in leading mission teams to various parts of the world. From 1999 until 2006 I was leading groups of teens to Jamaica as a tool to develop leadership among the young people. We spoke in school assemblies, led Vacation Bible...

When I think about Sanctifying Grace, the name that immediately comes to mind is Simon Peter. First of all, God was at work in Peter’s life even before Peter was aware of God’s work. It was Peter’s brother Andrew who had begun to follow Jesus and then invited his...

2013. It was an interesting year. For me at least. It was during the fall of 2013 that I took my first trip to Africa as a director of Kuandaa International, our non-profit mission organization. I didn’t really know what to expect. Although I had done my research, and...

I have never heard God’s voice speak to me. I have never seen him. I don’t really know what it is like to have a vision. I have never known God’s presence in a physical way. But I have known- and I still know- God in ways that are more intimate than relationships I...

She didn’t like me at all… at first. After I graduated from college, I took my first real job immediately. I was hired as a youth pastor at a small church in a small town in Indiana. There was nothing special about this situation, except, I was really sad. You see,...

I had a reputation as a sort of “goody two shoes.” First of all, I grew up as a church boy. My family not only went to church on Sunday mornings, but we also attended on Sunday evening and went to Bible study on Wednesday evenings. Sometimes we had services on other...