Jesus would rather not even go to Jerusalem. It was chaos. He much preferred more normal places with more normal people. He left more of His grace in those places than He did in the bigger cities. Actually, other than fulfilling the cultural necessity of attending Jewish festivals and events, Jesus largely ignored Jerusalem. He…
Flyover: The Stories We’ve Missed
Thanksgiving offers us an annual pause from the pace of life to return to places we do not often visit and gather with people we do not often see. Indeed, I live in what some call a “flyover state” — Minnesota — a placed that many visitors fly over while hopping coast to coast.…
Advent: Everlasting Father
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. — John 1:1-3 For to us a Child is born, to us a son is…
The Redemptive Reading of God’s Story
Editor’s note: Two-time GRAMMY winning hip-hop artist and bestselling author Lecrae had inspired millions with his redemptive and gut-honest art. But when his personal life spun into chaos, he was forced to face the buried impact of the unhealed wounds — sexual abuse, physical trauma, addiction, and depression — that threatened to tear it all…
Am I Being Honest with Myself… Really?
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? — Jeremiah 17:9 NIV Good question. Not me. Apparently, nobody. This explains why we’ve all said at some point, “I don’t understand why I did what I did.” Which is just another way of saying, “I don’t understand why I decided…
Love Everybody, Always
Love Everybody, Always “Love one another.” What is simple often isn’t easy; what is easy often doesn’t last. It was a lawyer like me who tried to set up Jesus. This lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. I think he was looking for a plan, but Jesus told him about his purpose instead.…
The Answer to Outrage
In 2014, Slate magazine released a series of essays collectively called “The Year of Outrage” and described, “From righteous fury to faux indignation, everything we got mad about… and how outrage has taken over our lives.” Essay titles included “The Outrage Project,” “The Life Cycle of Outrage,” “What ‘Outrage’ Means,” “Identity Outrage,” “The Cultural…
How We Can Face the Hardest Things in Life
January 17th, 2018 transformed our lives. It was the day I (Patrick) heard the word cancer. “Would you spell that for me?” I asked the nurse over the phone. My head was already spinning. Heart pounding. I scribbled a word that I had, until now, never heard before onto the only scrap piece of paper…
You Are Worth Getting to Know
Just recently I lost a friend. I’m not sure if loss or death has been a part of your life, but it has most certainly been a part of mine. Prior to this loss, I had only ever attended one funeral: a friend’s father. Though my friend and I didn’t know each other too…
A Nation Raging, a Church Unchanging
Contention and Division I was in Southeast Asia several weeks ago spending time with a friend, Michael. Michael is an American missionary, and his family has been absent from the United States for more than a decade. Over dinner one evening we strayed into politics. “I keep up on the news,” he said. “But what’s…