The Dangerous Lie of “That’s Just How I Am” (And How to Break Old Habits)
When the work quiets and we have a moment to ourselves, old habits sometimes stir. They lie low in the grass, just beyond our sight, waiting for a familiar thought to bring us close. Following that thought home feels natural. We lived there a long time.…
Faith Beyond the Thunder: Why Picking Up the Hammer Is Sacred Work
“From dust you came, and to dust you will return.” For years I heard that mostly as a sentence about endings. Lately, I hear something else in it. Dust is ordinary. Soil. Stone. Wood. Water. Bread. Hands. Maybe that is why so much of life is ordinary…
When the Past Returns Uninvited: Why Remembering Isn’t the Same as Remaining
There are moments when the past returns without being invited. A song.The smell of rain on warm pavement.A particular kind of afternoon light.A voice remembered so clearly that for a second the years between seem unreasonable. Memory does that. It does…
Finding Peace in the Delays: How God Teaches Us Through Life’s Smallest Moments
For years, I expected biblical lessons to arrive with thunder. I suppose Scripture trained my imagination that way. The sea parts. The mountain shakes. Fire falls from heaven. Walls collapse. A voice comes booming out of somewhere that would make even…
Beyond the Title: What the New Testament Actually Says About Elders, Deacons, and Preachers
Give us enough time and we will put a title on nearly anything. Then we will print it on a door, put it beneath a name, perhaps embroider it on a shirt, and before long somebody will begin protecting the title more carefully than the work that came with…
Retiring From Work, Not From Purpose: Embracing the Call to Teach and Serve
I can retire from work. There will come a day when I no longer clock in, no longer work the long nights, no longer answer to schedules, reports, alarms, meetings, and the endless machinery that keeps a working life moving. I can retire from a job. But I…
Before the Beginning: Exploring the Eternal Nature of Jesus in Scripture
Genesis opens before there are cities, nations, roads, houses, or even a human being to look toward the heavens. “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”Genesis 1:2 The Hebrew word used here רָחַף, rāḥaph. It carries the idea of…
Beyond the Screen: How a Simple Morning Routine Restores Our Focus on What Matters
Some mornings do not arrive with a bang but with a whisper. When you are quiet long enough, you can hear it. I tend to call it silence, but that isn’t the truth. The world isn’t silent. I am sitting at the kitchen table waiting for my coffee to finish…
What Did Inspiration Feel Like? Exploring the Human Side of Scripture
I wonder what it felt like. Not what inspiration means. We can study that. We can read the passages, trace the doctrine, argue over words and meanings. I mean what did it feel like to be there? To sit with a piece of parchment in front of you, ink…
The Weight of Distance: How Memories Bridge Time, Loss, and Family Legacy
Distance is a fascinating word. We usually think of it in miles. How far from here to there. How many hours on the road. How many feet across a room. But distance can also be measured in years. It can be fifty years ago. A hundred. A thousand. It can…