Book Review: Help My Unbelief

Every time I get ready to write a book review, I start to feel like I'm about to do something huge–like lead worship with feeble guitar skills, or send out the starting line-up for a little league game, or get in the ring with a prize fighter. It's always nerve wracking and it's always a…

Fixed Eye Faith, Lenten Reflections #2

Several years ago I became rather obsessed with the book in the New Testament we call 'Hebrews.' I don't remember the exact dates off the top of my head, I just remember catching a glimpse of it one day (I think I may have been reading N.T. Wright's book Following Jesus) and then diving in deeper…

Book Review: Surprised by Scripture

Title: Surprised by Scripture Author: NT Wright Publisher: HarperOne Year: 2014 Pages: 223 Anyone who has read any of my book reviews knows that NT Wright typically gets rave reviews from me–both as a lover of literature and as a Christian who loves Wright's theological perspective. Fact is, I can scarcely ever find anything in…

Daily Office: July 11, 2014

It's been a few days since I have written about the Daily Office. That kind of bums me out a little bit because it means I haven't been truly engaged in the Scripture as I want to be. I suppose all of us at some level have these ideas about what we should be doing…

Daily Office: July 1, 2014

And isn’t it funny who gets upset when Jesus does these things? You know, those who seem to have the most to lose–that is, their power. I love how Jesus simply loves, welcomes, and heals people and in so doing strips away the power of the powerful who will not.

500 Words Per Day: Grace

Grace. "It's a name for a girl" (U2). Grace falls all over us and colors us clean. Grace marks as children of the living God. Grace prevails upon us when we have no clue who we are, what we are doing, or where we are going. Grace guides, teaches, sustains, and reveals to us the…

Book Review: I Still Believe

Title: I Still Believe Author: Jeremy Camp with David Thomas Publisher: Tyndale Pages: 213 (plus photo spread) Date: 2013 [In order to comply with certain FCC guidelines, I am required to inform you that I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale Publishing in exchange for my review on my blog.] I went…

Companion Blog

I have a companion blog you can access here: Ten Thousand Places.  Thanks for visiting. 

Jesus (Still) Wants to Know Me

Like many people right now, I am reading Michael Spencer’s book Mere Churchianity, which was recently published by Waterbrook Press. I’m only two chapters in, but already I know the reason I bought the book and why I visited the late Spencer’s blog Internet Monk so frequently. He tells his readers in the introduction exactly…

That Kind of Faith

Reflections on Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2009 “Faith has to do with marrying Invisible and Visible. When we engage in an act of faith we give up control, we give up sensory (sight, hearing, etc.) confirmation of reality; we give up insisting on head knowledge as our primary means of orientation in life. The positive…

Psalm Lesson: Psalm 23 for May 3, 2009

Friends, Here is my first installment of this week’s Lectionary notes. These notes are on Psalm 23. For part of the time while I was writing these notes I was listening to David Crowder*Band’s A Collision or 3+4=7. There are ten (10) pages of notes that include relevant cross-references and quotes and personal observations about…

Asleep in Anxiety

Asleep in Anxiety Genesis 7, Psalm 3-4 There are wounded people all around the world. There are people whose lives are under constant threat from enemies. There are people whose lives are under constant strain of economic instability. There are people whose lives are marked by constant floods and the daily concern of what to…

Loving President-Elect Barrack Obama

Friends, I’d like to share some personal reflections concerning president-elect Barrack Obama and how I have chosen to respond to his recent election to the highest office in our land (save for that of the local church preacher.) I shall state from the beginning of this post that I am a conservative. That does not…

90 Days with Scripture: Isaiah 60-66, New Heavens & New Earth

Friends, This is the manuscript from part 6 of the series. We are reading through the Bible in 90 Days and at this point those who are participating are midway or so through the Psalms. This sermon, from Isaiah 60-66, is fairly simply and makes three major points–derived by scanning the entirety of Scripture from…

SkyCast: Plundering God, Isaiah 3:1-4:1

Friends, I printed the manuscript below for this sermon on Isaiah 3:1-4:1. The audio takes about 22 minutes or so-I am becoming much more efficient in my preaching. In this sermon, I follow on the heals of last week’s sermon which dealt primarily with trusting God. In this sermon, what I did was take that…