I generally expect things to work out—except when I’m traveling. Experience has conditioned me to expect the worst when I leave home. I expect the airplane will be overbooked, the schedule delayed, or the flight cancelled. All these things have happened to me. At the hotel, I expect they won’t have a room, will dismiss […]
The speaker’s words were both, familiar and shocking: “Let’s say a quick prayer.” The familiar part came from hearing this many times before and even saying it myself. The shocking part came from realizing how disrespectful this is to God and how sad he must feel when his kids can only find time for a […]
Peter DeHaan’s Writing Blog Facilitates Reader Interaction and Fosters Better Connections Jun 28, 2013—Peter DeHaan’s writing blog, Byline, celebrates thirty months of posts and reader comments with a fresh façade, supported by a robust platform. Powered by WordPress, the leading blogging platform, the revised Byline blog is greatly improved, with a clean, new format to […]
Transitioning from the Old to New Testament Consider that the Bible’s two testaments, its two sections. The Old Testament of the Bible presents God’s original way of interacting with his people (a covenant). It consists of a list of rules and expectations (the law). The New Testament of the Bible introduces Jesus and a new […]
I used to do business with an India-based company whose employees ended every phone call by saying “Good Karma.” This perplexed me. How should I respond? Was their ritual sendoff a theological reflection or merely their culture’s accepted way to say goodbye? I considered replying with “God bless” or some such response, but I usually […]
The phrase “the Lord’s anger” occurs 29 times in the Bible. Is God an angry god, frequently mad at us for messing up? Does he enjoy punishing those who disappoint him? The answer is no. This phrase only appears in the Old Testament of the Bible (before Jesus) but not at all in the New […]
Consider if Christianity Can Align with New Age Perspectives I recently listened to some people talk about spiritual matters. Their language perplexed me. While some of their expressions fit within my biblical worldview, other utterings did not. I resist labeling people, but labels can aid in understanding, even though they’re more likely to produce misunderstanding. […]
Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples By Francis Chan and Mark Beuving (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)Many Christians—and the churches they attend—skip the part about making disciples. Though Jesus commanded us to make disciples and modeled how to do it, too often we neglect disciple-making altogether. Even when we try to make disciples, we often reduce it to […]
As Moses prepares the Israelites to enter into the land God promised them, he reminds them of God’s instructions. Moses looks forward to the time when the people will live in cities they didn’t build, drink from wells they didn’t dig, and eat from fields they didn’t plant. They will be satisfied and he warns […]
This week I found a baby Robin stuck in a 40-inch deep window well at my house. He was too young to fly. If I didn’t rescue him, he would starve to death. This isn’t the first time something like this happened. I knew what to do. I tied a rope to the handle on […]