In the wake of Harvey and Irma, and in anticipation of Jose and Katia, today seems like an appropriate time to take stock of the storm stories that dot the biblical landscape. And seascape, for that matter. Here are my five favorite: Jesus' contrast of the wise and...
Yesterday's message ... Referenced Julie's career in the health care industry; Spoke openly regarding the fact that most of us are motivated by forces about which we are unaware; Described Genesis 25-50 as a "mini-series"; Arrived at this bottom line: The wounds you...
The Where Apples Fall series is designed to reinforce our core value that faith starts at home. It's not like faith starts at church and you hope to bring it from church to your house; it's the reverse: it starts at home and gets a weekly tuneup at church. All that...
We preachers spend a lot of time and energy trying to bring life to our sermons through what have historically been called illustrations. Donald Grey Barnhouse, longtime pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, compiled the most famous collection of such...
A friend of mine is reading an early copy of Crash Test Dummies. Late last week, he sent me a text that said excitedly, "The prayer on page 41 of the book reminds me of that pastor who said that the biblical view of heaven is a white supremacist's worst nightmare!" I...
In commemoration of the death this past weekend of Steely Dan's Walter Becker, here is a reprise of a 2014 post involving my five favorite Steely Dan songs. Interestingly, my original post drew a strong reaction from my mom -- she'd never heard of Steely Dan but could...
Where Apples Fall “Well, THAT apple sure didn’t fall from the tree!” It’s one of the most common ways of describing the incredible influence that parents have on their children. Influence that parents wield knowingly and unknowingly, to great impact and to lasting...
That book that I now love but used to hate? Judges. As in, a book in the library that is the bible. For years, my only familiarity with the book of Judges was the fact that Lyle Lovett once made an album called JoshuaJudgesRuth, which I thought was a clever name for...
Many of you know Gideon from the name that is on the cover of your hotel bible, as well as the organization that put it there. I suspect that fewer of you know, however, that the Gideon on the inside of your bible is actually much more interesting than the one on the...
In honor of this year's US Open, which began yesterday and runs through September 10, I want to devote this space to something quite near to the heart of every serious tennis player: the art of throwing (or simply abusing) a tennis racket. Yes, it's an art. With...