Symbols matter—more often and with deeper influence than we realize. The objects we use to represent beliefs and values impact our lives with such force because they’re the material means by which our hearts connect with immaterial truths. That’s why soldiers will give their lives for the American flag. Or a young woman will stare at her engagement ring for hours on end. The power of symbols is the reason the people of Michigan should be concerned by what’s going on this week on their Capitol grounds. Here’s what happened. Sunday morning at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing the Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple, offended by the Nativity […]
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Samaritan’s Purse, the ministry behind Operation Christmas Child, has seen some incredible examples of God’s work since its beginnings in 1970. Today the evangelical ministry works in more than 100 countries around the world, with its best known program of Operation Christmas Child collecting over 113 million boxes since 1993. But in all that time, the people at OCC have never seen anything quite so unusual–and amazing–as what happened this year. I won’t recount the whole story, but here’s the outline. It’s not just a heart-warming holiday story. There’s something more here, an real-life example of the kind of thing that happens when generosity meets God’s grace in human lives. In […]
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In a recent blog, Father Stephen Freeman raises the bar of thanksgiving from a simple holiday to the higher place it should hold in our hearts: The act of giving thanks is among the most fundamental acts of love. It lies at the very heart of worship – in which, in the words of Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex, there is an exchange. In giving thanks we make an offering which itself is always inferior to what we have received – but which is itself an enlargement of the human heart. To live rightly in the presence and communion of God is to live in a state of constant thanksgiving. For from Him we […]
Read MoreFather God wants you, not some shallow religious loyalty. The affirmation of your praise and the admiration of your worship blesses Him, not because He needs them but because He wants you. The Scriptures tell us He is seeking worshipers, not worship. God isn’t insecure, needing our praise in order to feel good about Himself; nor is He proud, needing worship to feed His ego. It is relationship He desires. Intimacy. Family. When we worship, He is captivated by the singer, not the song. Our company is what He longs for. Enlightened worshipers know this. They also know that when they approach Him, He responds; and the pleasure of His […]
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I was at a wedding two weeks ago and struck up a conversation with one of the friends of the groom. He’s a successful businessman in another city here in South Carolina with a great marriage and outstanding kids. He’s a man who’s serious about his faith with a vibrant and active relationship with Jesus. A man of prayer, of mission of great impact for the Kingdom in his community. He’s also a man who cares nothing for the church. After several decades of key leadership in his local church, he bailed out. Just stopped going altogether. He disconnected from the congregation and ministry he had invested heavily […]
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Like most people, I was deeply moved when Brittany Maynard took her life Saturday. Maynard, 29, was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer last spring. After learning there was no treatment, she chose to end her life rather than let the disease run its course. So surrounded by her family at their home in Portland, Oregon, she took an overdose of barbiturates prescribed by a doctor under the state’s Death with Dignity Act and within a few minutes peacefully died. Brittany was a beautiful and vivacious young woman, and her smiling pictures will break your heart. She was also an articulate spokesperson for Compassion & Choices, an organization seeking to change […]
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The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—legacy of a Virginia Baptist preacher named John Leland–is clear to anyone who’s studied American history: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof… At least it’s clear to most Americans. Even a few judges and politicians continue to claim familiarity with it. But apparently not the City Council of Houston, TX. They’re hauling several local pastors into court for daring to voice opposition in their sermons to a recently passed city ordinance. Here’s what happened. Mayor Annise Parker, the first openly lesbian mayor of a major U.S. city (her sexual orientation is important only because she made it […]
Read More“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” – Martin Luther
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After eight months in Afghanistan, our son is on his way home. He’s not back yet—the Army’s bizarre way of sending returning soldiers through a maze of flights, bases, delays and last minute changes has kept his itinerary tenuous even as it’s kept us on edge—but he’ll be here shortly. Our family can breathe again. Not everyone who deployed with our son is coming back. Two brave young men he served with lost their lives. One leaves behind a wife and young child. The other, an extended family and community. Their deaths make their unit’s homecoming bittersweet. All of us who look forward to our children returning safely do […]
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I received an email earlier this week that spoke volumes about the most important thing churches do. The email came from a man who recently went through a divorce and has custody of his two small children. He wrote to tell me his story. Along with the pain of the divorce and the challenges of raising his children on his own, he told me how he wrestled with the spiritual side of it all. As his email says, when his family fell apart he found himself like so many others—without the kind of connection with God that provides stability when life falls apart. Ephesians 2:12 describes his condition this […]
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