The Best Christian Community Happens After the Service Is Over Last week I asked, Why do people show up for church late? My wife and I try to arrive ten minutes early, a practice we developed when we visited fifty-two churches in a year. This allows for time to interact with others, to enjoy a […]
A few years ago lightning struck our house. It seems most of the energy was safely dissipated via a ground wire, as intended. Yet some took a variant path, following along the eave trough and blowing the downspout away from the house, before jumping to an unused underground cable and heading towards our prized maple […]
The Timing of When People Arrive at Church Reflects Their Priorities When my wife and I went on our grand adventure of visiting fifty-two churches in a year, we decided we’d try to arrive at church ten minutes early. In doing so we would avoid breezing in at the last-minute, and we would have time […]
Several years ago, I realized that a ritual had crept into my morning hair-combing routine. This added activity was inconsequential, not contributing in any way to my final appearance, yet morning after morning, I persisted in this needless habit. It took only a few seconds and eliminating it did not substantially increase my free time […]
Technology May Keep Us Connected but It Can Leave Us Empty As a society, we’re more connected than ever before. But many people also feel lonelier than ever. With all our connection opportunities, why is this? Our smart phones and social media allow us to communicate and stay in touch with more people than we […]
When we were first married my bride and I experienced road rage. We were headed home from work, making a detour for groceries. I drove down the area’s busiest street, full of rush hour traffic, and attempted to pull into the left turn lane. Due to various reasons, I made a couple of partial forays […]
Hezekiah and Moses Plead with God for a Different Outcome In Isaiah we read about King Hezekiah. The king is sick, and Isaiah comes to him with a dire message from God. Through Isaiah, God tells Hezekiah to put his affairs in order because his illness is fatal. Death looms. Though few of us would […]
Study Scripture in a Different Way to Glean More from It For most of my adult life, even going back to my teenage years, I’ve read the Bible most every day. Yet there were a few times when I needed to take a break, when my Bible reading practice had fallen into a rut—the deep […]
A number of years ago my wife and I were witnesses to road rage—and our car was the victim. As the police officer took our statements, he asked if the assailant walked around the front of our car or the back. My bride quickly answered “the front” and just as promptly, I replied “the back.” […]
Changing Churches Should Be Rare In our Facebook group we discussed the post “When Not to Change Churches.” Justin asked a pertinent question: “When should you change churches?” I knew part of the answer, but I needed to contemplate how far to take my response. Part of my hesitation stemmed from the reality that sometimes […]