I heard a story recently about Nelson Mandela. Apparently, there was a time when he met with former President Bill Clinton. Clinton asked him a rather pointed question: “When you were released from prison, Mr. Mandela, I woke my daughter at three o’clock in the morning. I wanted her to see this historic event. As […]
One of my pastor friends has a pretty powerful call story. There was a time late in his college life when he struggled profoundly with the meaninglessness of life. It got to the point that he began to despair of life itself. He was not a Christian at this time. Then one Sunday morning, somehow, […]
I think it was just before the 2004 elections, I remember hearing about a church up in North Carolina where the pastor told his congregation – if you are not going to vote Republican, you’re not really Christian, and you may as well leave this church now. Can you imagine? I mean is God a […]
Over the past few days, we’ve raised the question: How do we, as followers of Jesus, engage the culture and politics of our day? Yesterday we reflected on the need to listen to one another with basic kindness. Today, I’ll simply add the need for humility. There’s a great story about the famous Georgia […]
Over the past few days, we’ve raised the question: How do we, as followers of Jesus, engage the culture and politics of our day? I’ll offer three basic thoughts, and I’ll start today with this. First, can we at least agree on the need to listen to one another – with basic kindness? People […]
Yesterday, we began to reflect on faith and politics. No doubt, dangerous waters! It would be easier to try to keep the two separate, or just not talk about it. However, as followers of Christ, we can’t just throw up our hands and say, I’m not going to engage. I think about how beautiful […]
So if you’re at a dinner party, what are the two topics that most of us always try to steer clear of? Of course, as a pastor, I find myself in the middle of these topics all the time – especially at social events. It’s funny. A lot of times, once people find out I’m […]
Today, I am deeply grateful for those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. Hope reaches others because of you. Thank you! In his book Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton wrote, “The thing I mean can be seen in children when they find a game or joke they especially enjoy. A […]
The Reverend King Duncan once told about a letter that appeared in The Catholic Digest. A mother wrote that she was just finishing up a load of laundry, heading back upstairs when her kindergarten-aged daughter presented her deepest theological question. “Mommy,” she asked, “if it were the end of the world, and everyone was getting […]
Yesterday we talked about Jonah. Another passage in Jonah really challenges me. Jonah was called to preach to the people of Nineveh. They were a particularly brutal, bloodthirsty lot. But, when they heard Jonah preach, they repented. In chapter 3, we read, “When God saw what they did… God changed his mind about the […]
