Category: Christian Living

Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.

What Do You Expect?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 2, 2013

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 my confirmation number as meaningless, suggest I share a room with someone else, or direct me to a different hotel. All these things have happened to me, too.

When booking a recent trip, the travel site delighted me by offering a package rate for my airline and hotel. The deal was so good I almost felt guilty. I grabbed their offer but expected things wouldn’t work out.

The first sign of trouble came when checking into the hotel. The desk clerk’s easy banter soon gave way to concentration as he typed futilely on his keyboard.

Finally he called someone, talking in subdued tones about room availability. I overheard just enough to know there was a problem.

“I’m sorry, but we’re all out of the rooms you paid for.” I held my breath, expecting the worst. “So we’ll upgrade you to a suite.” This seemed like good news, but his tone suggested otherwise.

Was “upgrade to a suite” a euphemism for “we’ll stick you in a crappy room because we’re going to lose money on your package deal?”

I thanked him for the “upgrade” while wondering what “upgrade” really meant. At least I had a room. I trod down corridors of nondescript doors that surely opened to ordinary rooms.

These were not my destination. What awaited me?

Then the hallway widened. Spotlights revealed a walkup, double door entrance to a special place, one displaying my room number. I checked and double-checked.

Still unconvinced, I tried the keycard. It didn’t work. Figures. I tried the second key and on the third try, the green light flashed.

I opened the doors to a grand sight, spacious and sophisticated, something I’d only seen in movies. It took some exploring, but eventually I found the bedroom.

The whole place was bigger than our first house, elegantly furnished, boasting two bathrooms, three TVs, and a baby grand piano.

This was certainly not what I expected.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags personal, travel

Christian Living

Let’s Say a Quick Prayer

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 30, 2013

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 quick prayer.

Like any good parent, God yearns to connect with his children. He wants to hear how things are going, what’s on our mind, and how he can help.

Even though he already knows these things, he wants us to tell him, he desires to hear us say the words. Quick is not what he longs for.

Usually one of two situations prompts these words. The first is when there’s much to do and not enough time, so we squeeze in an obligatory prayer as a prelude.

The other is due to a lack of planning or priority, when self-focus consumes all time, leaving but seconds for God-focus before parting company.

True, there are times to breathe a fast prayer: in the split second timing separating an accident from a near miss, the unexpected opportunity for a make-or-break meeting, or when we must say something, but nothing comes to mind.

Sometimes those prayers are simply, “God, help!”

However, there’s usually no good reason for a quick prayer.

We’re lazy or tired or don’t respect God enough. We take him for granted or feel we don’t need to invest in our relationship. We promise to make time tomorrow, but the next day carries its own distractions.

How long would we maintain a friendship if that friend only ever had time for a quick conversation? Fortunately God is more patient and forgiving than we, but he still deserves more.

Let’s pray.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags prayer

Christian Living

What is Meant by Good Karma and Namaste?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 23, 2013
2 Comments on What is Meant by Good Karma and Namaste?

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 just said “Goodbye,” if I said anything at all.

While karma is a common aspect of many Eastern religions, it’s not absent from my biblically-based perspective, either. Jesus said, “Give and it will be given” and “with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Later Paul wrote, “A man reaps what he sows.” Don’t these passages imply karma, albeit within a biblical worldview?

I’d forgotten about this until recently, as I listened to a series of lectures online. The speaker ended each one, saying “Namaste,” a common Hindu valediction with diverse meanings. The bigger question is what did she mean?

Was she implying she was Hindu? Or was she offering a cosmopolitan flare to a possibly diverse audience?

Perhaps it was an effort to be cute or countercultural or unexpected. Each time, I envisioned her making a slight bow as she pressed her palms together with elbows extended.

Had we met in person, how should I react? I could respond in kind, repeating her word and duplicating her gesture. Or perhaps, I would nod and say “Goodbye,” giving her my cultural response.

In both of these situations, I desire to communicate respect without implying theological agreement.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags God, spiritual journey

Christian Living

A Thought for Fathers Everywhere

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 16, 2013
3 Comments on A Thought for Fathers Everywhere

A friend recently asked for advice about fatherhood. Over the years, I’ve done some things right and some things wrong. I had much to share, but I wanted to reveal the best, the most important thing. Here it is:

There will always be time to work late, volunteer more, take it easy, or do the things we want to do for ourselves, but time spent with our children is precious and limited; we must savor it—for all too soon it will be too late.

Eventually we will run out of time. They will grow busier and have less time for us. Or we will run out of time altogether.

Regardless of their age, we need to invest in our children now. I think it’s the best investment we can make.

Happy Father’s Day!

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags advice, Father's Day, fathers, Heavenly Father

Christian Living

4 Questions about New Age Ideas

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 9, 2013

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.

I wondered if they operated within a New Age perspective, the melding of various Eastern and Western religious practices.

While I respect their search for spiritual enlightenment, their path is not one I embrace. My dilemma, however, was how to react to the things they were saying.

What Is Positive Energy?

One person asked everyone to “send positive energy” to someone who was struggling.

Should I interpret that as an opportunity to pray to Jesus for that person’s healing or dismiss it as heresy?

What Does Meditation Mean?

Then someone suggested meditating to find answers while bowed before an altar and with incense burning.

Could I understand that as quieting my heart before God and listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction? Or should I dismiss it?

Who Is the Divine?

A third person talked about praying to the divine.

Do I apply that as praying to the God of the Bible or reject it as making an impersonal petition to an abstract deity?

Should I Engage or Retreat?

These three questions, however, beg a bigger one—one for which I have no answer:

When confronted with divergent spiritual perspectives, can I practice my faith within the constructs of that religious structure or should I remove myself from this new age the situation?

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags heresy, religious language

Christian Living

What I Learned From a Baby Bird

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 2, 2013

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 a pail, lowered it down, and tipped it on its side. Using a tool with a long handle, I nudged the baby bird into the pail.

As I returned the pail upright, he panicked and hopped out. I repeated the process but a bit quicker. This time he stayed in the pail as I lifted it up.

Pleased at how easy this was, I gently tipped the pail on its side and let him slide into some groundcover. Once free, he jumped back into the window well.

I again rescued him. This time I took him to the other side of the house to release him. Soon one of the baby bird’s parents joined him, staying with him on the ground until he learned to fly.

This reminded me of my relationship with God.

God wants the best for me, but I can’t always see what that might be. He provides freedom when I don’t fight his efforts to save me.
God helps me even when I don’t realize I’m in trouble. His perspective is beyond my comprehension.
God rescues me, but out of panic or habit, sometimes I return to what I know. But he loves me, helping me again and again.

Thank you God for using a baby Robin to teach me.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags God

Christian Living

Welcome to Summer

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 28, 2013

Technically summer doesn’t start for another month (June 21). Summer then lasts for three months (until September 21).

Though the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox formally mark the beginning and ending of the summer season, the weather and our response to it shows we don’t care too much about the official dates.

From a practical standpoint, many people in the United States view Memorial Day Weekend (this year, starting on May 25) as the beginning of summer and lasting until Labor Day (this year, September 2).

This perspective means summer started this past weekend!

Although spring is my favorite season, summer follows as a close second. Fall isn’t too bad either, except that it foreshadows winter, my least favorite time of the year.

My energy level and, therefore, my ability to tackle projects and complete tasks is highest in the spring and summer. In the fall I try to bring major projects to completion, before my energy wanes.

Winter is a time when I place a hold on accepting new assignments and making commitments.

Less this appears I’m writing off a big part of the year, let’s compare this to our energy cycle during the day. I’m a morning person and that’s my time to make things happen.

When I’m at my peak, I can complete something in minutes that might take an hour or more to do when I’m tired—and it still might not be my best work.

Therefore, I do important things when I’m at my peak and save less important things for later on. It doesn’t matter if the span is a day or a year—my goal is to work smart.

Regardless if summer is your favorite season or not, I wish you a great one!

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags holiday, seasons

Christian Living

Three Places Where I Find More

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 26, 2013
2 Comments on Three Places Where I Find More

Last week I posted that while the Sunday morning church service can be good, I desire more. And I do occasionally experience more. Sometimes it’s in those solitary moments with just me and the Almighty.

But the sweeter times are when I experience more in community. There are three situations when more can occur.

1. Intentional Activity

Twice a month I have the opportunity to meet with like-minded spiritual seekers.

We share, we pray, we listen, and we practice, putting our faith into action in ways that stretch us and grow us: often uncomfortable but usually encouraging.

This is my prime community of more, one that has formed me into who I am today.

2. Around Food

There are a handful of close friends who I meet with periodically at coffee shops and in our homes.

We share our lives together, not in a superficial, gossipy way, but with deep connection, encouraging and being encouraged, challenging and being challenged, serving and being served.

Life is better in their company. Together we experience more.

3. Affinity Group

Once a month, I meet with a group of Christian writers. Our intent is to share our writing. By design we don’t offer a requisite prayer to start or end our meetings. We don’t schedule time to read the Bible or share a devotional.

We focus on writing—though God is always the subtext. We are artists, sharing our creations with each other and offering them to our Creator. This is a highly spiritual experience for me, a valuable time that can provide more.

All three of these situations offer me more. They provide the more I seek, surpassing the Sunday morning church service as my key times for spiritual formation and connection with the divine.

The traditional church service pales in comparison when I encounter more.

May we all seek and find more.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags church services, community, food, God, gossip, writing

Christian Living

Are You Searching for More?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 19, 2013
2 Comments on Are You Searching for More?

When people in our materialistic society say they want more, they usually mean more money and possessions. But that’s not the kind of more I’m talking about.

A year ago, after Easter, my wife and I slipped away from our church to take a yearlong sabbatical to visit a different Christian church each Sunday.

On Monday morning I chronicled our Sunday adventure in the thread 52 churches, and I continue to post updates.

This Easter we completed our journey, returning to our home church to celebrate Jesus with friends. The reunion was grand; it was glorious.

Though visiting 52 churches in a year was an interesting, engaging, and growing experience, it was wonderful to return home, to enjoy the company of the church that fits us best.

It’s nice to worship with people I know and enjoy community with friends. Yet as good as being at my home church is, I still yearn for more.

Church, as today’s culture practices it, is good (or at least can be good), but my heart deeply desires for more and my soul tells me there is more awaiting discovery: something that is not just good but better.

And just as my heart and soul longs for more, I think God desires the same with us. He earnestly longs for us to seek, embrace, and immerse ourselves into more with him.

I have occasional hints at what more looks like, sensing it in my innermost being.

Going to church is good, but I crave something better. And that something better doesn’t reside in tweaking today’s church service.

It will happen only after we strip away all the layers we’ve added and reclaim an intimate relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit.

Then we can find a better kind of church. More church.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags church

Christian Living

The Good, Better, and Best of Spiritual Understanding

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 12, 2013

In my post “What I Learned From The Great Divorce,” I shared three levels of spiritual understanding for a book: reading it, seeing it preformed, and discussing it afterward. These have parallels to our spiritual journey.

1. Read

I was intrigued when I read C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. However, my primary reaction was confusion. There was too much for me to grasp, especially in one read.

The same is true about the Bible. It’s certainly an intriguing book, but a common response is confusion. There is much there—and we will never fully grasp it all, especially if we read and study it in isolation.

That’s not to imply reading the Bible is without value. Bible study is important, critically so. But reading the Bible should never be the sole means for spiritual growth and knowing God. We need more.

2. Watch and Listen

Analogous to attending a play is going to church. There’s something valuable about the shared experience. When we see and hear the minister talk about the Bible, our understanding deepens.

However, church is a passive experience. With the extent of our involvement limited to singing along with the musicians, we mostly watch. The rest of the service is one way, with our leaders performing and us observing. There needs to be more.

3. Discuss

Talking about the play (or the book) allows for interaction. It’s with the give and take of dialogue that deeper understanding emerges.

The application is a faith community that allows members to mutually edify and minister to one another, not passively receiving (as in church), but actively engaging with each other: sharing insights, offering encouragement, and suggesting application.

It’s iron sharpening iron, the intersection of belief with practice. It’s spirituality at its best.

Spiritual Understanding

When it comes to spiritual understanding, reading the Bible is good, going to church is better, but existing in community is best.

May we do all three, as we focus on what’s best.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags Bible, C. S. Lewis, church attendance