CCblogs Network
Can anybody find me somebody to love?
I have no enemies.
How am I to love them?
No
enemy curses me. No enemy raises fists at me. No enemy persecutes me.
No enemy hates me. I doubt anyone in the enemies of my state - Taliban
or Al-Qaeda - care much about a stay-at-home dad living in a suburb of
nothing in Texas. Frankly, I'm not important enough to have enemies in
this world, and I'm not doing anything important enough that might make
me any, either.
A litany for children who have died from bullying
In September 2010, four gay children died from bullying. Children are
being bullied, tormented and abused for many different reasons, and
there is a distinct upswing on bullying in our schools. Please take
this to prayer with me.
Are you losing sleep over your church's finances?
Over the years, I have kept coming back to the
words of Edwin Friedman, “Stress comes less from overwork than from
taking responsibility for the problems of others.” We can adapt these
words for church finance: “Stress comes less from money challenges than
from taking responsibility for the money problems of others.”
Spiritual presence
What must it have been like to encounter the earthly Jesus, to meet him
as he went about his ministry? When the gospels attempt to share
something of this with us, they are no doubt hindered by the
impossibility of rendering such an experience in words. But a common
refrain in the gospels describes Jesus as "speaking with authority."
The absence of God
The Bible affirms God’s presence. “My presence will go with you,
and I will give you rest.” (Ex. 33:14) The Bible also names God Deus Absconditus,
the Hidden God (Is. 45:15). We hold both in tension.
What do I have to believe to be a Christian?
“What do I have to believe to be a Christian?” If you have been part of a church for any amount of time or spent even a few minutes surfing Christian blogs or church websites, this is a question you will encounter ad nauseam. The question itself is loaded, since it assumes one has to believe something.
The idolatry of growth
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16:24-26)