When my first adopted cat, Ishqa, died at age 2 from FIP some 14 years ago, I “licked my wounds” and after a little while, thought I would try again. I went to the pound that I had gotten Ishqa from, and, not holding the facility responsible for his death because its head vet...
Read more →“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” – Matthew 19:22 In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Gospel authors each tell the story of a wealthy young man who comes to Jesus and asks him what one must do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven....
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As a lifelong game fan and a strategy game collector, I had probably the weekend of my life this last weekend. It all started simply enough. I was wrapping up what I was doing at work at about 7 PM on Friday, and I thought I’d drop in on the games section of Craigslist....
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It’s the middle of April, and so Easter is upon us again. Active in church, I can easily forget the big picture of it all, and so when Easter comes around, I try to take some time to remember- why is church important? Why do I pour so much time and thought into this...
Read more →I’ve had several good conversations with a work colleague this week about Christianity, and how it should impact a life. These conversations grew out of some reflections I had talking with a friend and also from considering the experiences shared by others I have known that felt similarly: Christianity is negative. The key complaint...
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Tullian had a post today on his blog about the centrality of the gospel in the Christian’s life, and how for many, it is viewed as simply the gate one passes through to join the club, instead of as the path one must walk down into Christ’s kingdom. He makes the point that preachers...
Read more →The Gospel is first described in the New Testament as the message that Jesus and his followers shared with those they encountered about the Kingdom of God. “It is near”, they said. It’s also the message that Paul says his life was set apart for, that inspired his missionary journeys, his work with Gentiles,...
Read more →Appreciative of systemists like James Fowler, I offer here an artificial framework for thinking about grace. Recognizing that God and His workings are mysterious, this post in no way suggests that I have “figured out” how God sprinkles His grace into the events of human lives. When He does, though, this article suggests how...
Read more →The weekend was good. I’m becoming a little more active than I have been of late. My buddy Kurt and I got three Loop jogs in last week. My body needs the exercise to, of all things, stave off aches and pains, among other reasons. I could lose a few pounds as well. We’ll...
Read more →It’s been a weird week this week as I can see I am sliding into another pool of sadness. I think I deal with this each year around the holidays because I feel a strong sense of being alone during this month and some. Today the melancholy is registering more tangibly. I know some...
Read more →I’ve continued my slow trek through the Old Testament by striding through II Samuel over the last few weeks, and have been grateful to take a closer look at the life of David. There are moments when reading passages about him that I have breathed a sigh of relief and thought “If this guy...
Read more →It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written anything, and frankly, I know there have been things to write, but I’ve either been too busy or the topics seem to big to get into a post. Time has flown by, as well. I often get home in the evenings, and once I am there,...
Read more →I have a good friend who lost a sibling to cancer six years ago today. My friend loved her sister dearly, and she feels it every year when the anniversary comes up, if not only because she lost a sister, but also because that was one of the hardest years of her life, and...
Read more →Today was a pretty good day: I made some progress at work on creating a generic form generator that can update any table tied to a selected database, including setting some parameters on form fields and placing some checks on numerical fields. This little app can change how quickly building a backend administration area...
Read more →It may be a stretch, but I think the best scripture passage I have heard that is probably most helpful for the addict is the story of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, found in John 4:1-26. I became aware of this when I heard my cousin Jeremy Pummel preach a sermon from this passage...
Read more →“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” ~Psalm 51:5 I’ve been reading Paul David Tripp’s little book “Whiter than Snow” off and on in the mornings for that moment of getting my eyes on God each day. It’s a slim volume with meditations on Psalm 51, David’s...
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