I’m thinking about grace a lot today after a bit of a mystical experience in church Sunday. As we were preparing for communion, I was praying. The Spirit brought to mind a series of dark incidents from my own life where God was miraculously gracious to me. I’m not talking about small matters. I am [...]
Marriage Proverbs for Clay and Taylor
12 May by
I’ve been studying Proverbs with my Advanced Bible class. I thought I’d write a few for my newlywed son and his wife, and invite the IM audience to add their own. (Keep them short.) “Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church†is the most humbling word that God will ever speak to you. [...]
In The End, God Knows Us (A Meditation for Friends)
3 May by
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God…(Galatians 4:9a, English Standard Version) I’ve been teaching Galatians for over a year, and I happened to cross this verse this week, a week marked by the passing of one of my most significant mentors. She exemplified many things in [...]
Butter and Cream: Denise’s Tribute To Our Departed Friend and Mentor, Betty Hasty
29 Apr by
This morning our school community lost one of its most loved and influential members, Mrs. Betty Hasty. For 21 years she’s been my personal accountability group. No one on the planet has more to do with my passion for the Gospel in the place where I serve than Betty. She was the person responsible for [...]
Riffs: 03:05:09: Richard Foster on Solitude; Me on Silence
5 Mar by
Next Reformation posted this bit of a 2008 CT interview with Richard Foster. (I mainly mention Foster to light up the radar of the discernabloggers. Boo!) What is the discipline that you think we need to be exploring more at this point? “Solitude. It is the most foundational of the disciplines of abstinence, the via [...]
What Have I Learned From Living In Community? (Part 1)
1 Mar by
When you’ve lived in an intentional Christian community for almost 17 years, you’re a pretty sorry excuse for a person if you haven’t thought about how your life has affected that community or how that experience has shaped you as a person. You live together on the same campus, eat together for most meals, live [...]
Holes in the Soul
20 Jan by
Back in the day, I got a psych major in my undergrad work. That’s pretty ironic, believe me, in more ways than you can imagine. I can’t say I learned a great deal, but I did begin a lifelong journey of making observations and drawing tentative conclusions about myself. If I would have paid attention [...]
Some Mistakes to Avoid With Young Adult Children
8 Jan by
1. Assuming they don’t want to hear that they are loved. (Dads….are you listening?) No one is as mature and “beyond” the need for affection as they appear to be. There are some hard cases, but most of us are never too old to treasure those people who tell us they love us. 2. Assuming [...]
A Time To Run Away and Look Back: Frank Schaeffer’s Calvin Becker Trilogy Considered
1 Jan by
UPDATE: Here’s my review of Crazy For God. I’ve been reading quite a few novels and autobiographies. Some of you need to shut off the theology and read something else. Maybe read Calvin’s Institutes for a year or something. That was joke. Anyway… I just finished Frank Schaeffer’s Calvin Becker Trilogy. (I talked about them [...]
“I Forgive Myself:” The Hardest Word?
One of the things I really don’t like about run-of-the-mill evangelical spirituality is the assumption that we’re all basically clones of each other. Cheerful clones. Mentally healthy clones. Good family clones. Conservative political clones. Happy at church clones. Like the same music clones. Clones who cope well. Clones who think alike. Clones who can take [...]