What is a holiday and what makes it holy? A holiday is literally a day set apart from the rest as different. That’s what holy means. It means “set apart”. God is “set apart” and different from every other being in the universe. Some days are...
Part of the Christmas story is hard to talk about. A cute baby in the manger with the animals looks great in a nativity scene. A crazy tyrant hunting down little kids, not so much. Why did that have to happen? If God could warn...
If home is where you are from, where is Jesus’ home? Is he from heaven or from earth? Both. Orthodox Bishop Kalistos Ware put it this way, “He was begotten outside time from the Father without a mother, and he was begotten within time from his...
Giving feels good. That's one of the reasons we love Christmas. Even little kids who can't wait to see what they GET for Christmas love to GIVE their mom and dad a special gift grandma helped them buy. You love giving because you are like...
I am excited to be home for the holidays! Personally, I have had a great week away with my lovely wife. We are home from our trip, but we are moving this week to a new (to us) apartment in San Clemente. I know it's...
We have a lot to be thankful for this year! Can you believe this week is our annual Thanksgiving Sunday, November 24th? Come ready to share stories of God's faithfulness. Though Traci and I are out of town for my birthday, we will be watching...
You know those endings of a movie where you think, “What? Wait. No!”? It seems too abrupt; too unfinished. You might even wait through the credits to see if there is another ending. The Gospel according to Mark ends like that. The original ending of the...
Did you ever reach out to friends for help only to have them bail on you? Have you ever cried out in faith to God for help and been ignored? Were you ever under so much dread that you teetered on the brink of despair?...
If I can read Hebrew and Greek but do not have love, I am a loud, blustering noise maker. If I can preach and know lots of stuff about lots of stuff and I have faith enough to sound really sure of myself but do not have...
“What if there was a place so safe that the worst of me could be known and I wouldn’t be loved less, but more, in the telling of it?” There is such a place, but it is not easy to find. Getting there takes intentionality, consistency and...
