Book Review: Messy Grace

Many, may years ago when I was still young, I felt I was being led to be the preacher of a certain church. I began going through all the motions–sending a resume, sample sermon, meeting families and members of the church, preaching trial sermon(s), and finally submitting to a vote of the congregation. During the…

Book Review: Vanishing Grace

Title: Vanishing Grace Author: Philip Yancey Publisher: Zondervan Year: 2014 Pages: 298 [Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of Vanishing Grace via BookLook Bloggers program. I was in no way compensated or asked to write a positive review. I was asked only to be honest and fair in my review which I was. Thanks…

I Didn’t Particularly Care for Worship Today

I tried to secretly take this picture of the boys this morning. I think Samuel knew I was taking it and was trying to hide, scootch backwards so he wouldn't be included. I got him anyhow. I'm good like that. This is a picture of my three sons in worship this morning. I didn't like…

Being a Christian Means…

I went to Sunday School this past Sunday for the first time in a long, long time. I also stayed for worship and was delighted that at the end of the two hours or so I was in the building the roof managed to stay attached to whatever the roof is attached to. In other…

Is Jesus into Politics? Do our American Political Opinions Really Matter?

Once upon a midnight dreary, I was enrolled in seminary. I had to write a paper once concerning whether or not Jesus ever said anything political. I don't remember everything I wrote but I do remember being marked down a grade because it was my opinion that Jesus had very little to say about politics.…

Daily Office: June 30, 2014

The Daily Office readings for today, June 30, 2014 are as follows. I draw from the Book of Common Prayer, Year 2, Proper 8: Psalm 106:1-18 (I just read the entire Psalm) Numbers 22:1-21 Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 21:12-22 These were some wonderful readings and I'll briefly share just a few thoughts on them in order…

Book Review: Plain Faith

Title: Plain Faith Author(s): Irene & Ora Jay Eash with Tricia Goyer Publisher: Zondervan Year: 2014 Pages: 208 Cripple Creek Horse Ranch Tricia Goyer [Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of Plain Faith by Zondervan in exchange for my faith and unbiased review. I hope that helps clear up any confusion.] I'm going…

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…

500 Words with Acts: Grace

I'm spending the month of May reading through the entire New Testament and I am now finished with the book of Acts (actually finished a couple of days ago). When I was reading it I came to chapters 13-16 where I saw something I had either not noticed or not paid attention to in past…

500 Words Per Day: Help; Walking

Every now and then I get inspired to walk. Walking is fun when the walk is long and slow and perhaps accompanied by some music. Other times there are birds to listen to or streams to walk through. One time I was walking down a long country road near my house and some cows, thankfully…

Book Review: Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris

Author: Joshua Harris Title: Dug Down Deep Pages: 232; +study guide & endnotes (study guide written by Thomas Womack) Publisher: Multnomah Books Date: 2010, 2011  I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for my review by Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishing.  "A religious person is trying to put God in their debt through hard…

Companion Blog

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

Daily Office: June 29, 2010

Some Thoughts Maybe a large part of the problem with christians in general is that when we approach the bible, what we call ‘the word of God’ or the ‘scripture’ (and rightfully so), we do so with the idea that it is a prescription. That is, we have a problem so let’s head to the…

The God of Our Expectations

The God of Our Expectations 1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,…

Oswald Chambers on Spiritual Success

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you . . . — Luke 10:20 Oswald Chambers on discipleship: Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned…