Fourteen years have passed since a teenager in a Suburban sent me and my Sonoma crashing into a field on the side of the road. It was a legitimate “near-death experience.” I remember nothing of the accident, but based on what those at the scene told me, it was only by the grace of God that I survived. […]
One day, Jesus walked into a conversation his 12 followers were having about who would be the greatest in God’s kingdom. They were jockeying for positions of influence, but Jesus did not shame them. Instead, he challenged them to become like children, to eradicate their sinful tendencies, to seek the few who stray away, and […]
Praise should not be divorced from obedience. To praise God and then not obey God is hypocrisy. That was the problem on Palm Sunday. On Sunday the crowd said, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9), but by Friday the same crowd said, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:22, […]
My wife and I traveled to Israel 18 years ago, and during our return visit last year we noticed that much about the Holy Land remains constant (and confusing)—a mix of the sacred and the strange. In Jerusalem pilgrims rub elbows with pickpockets. Merchants hawk T-shirts outside the entrance to the Wailing Wall. A peaceful […]
I stood next to him in the baptistery and listened to him make his confession of faith. In a matter of days, he would be headed back home to his native Turkey where living out his new faith would be challenging at best. Before we walked into the water, I looked at Emir (not his […]
