I see drug addicts every day.  I know most of them by name and many of their stories.  For many of them, their life is singularly focused on one thing – their next hit.  They might think of something else for a little while, but their thoughts, their attention, their

I used to think that Jesus was out of touch with his teachings on worry.  I don’t think it is Christian to be dismissive of Jesus, but I do think it is okay to be honest about our disagreements.  God can handle our disagreements.  Disagreeing is something that happens in

Anger has gotten a bad rap – undeservedly so.  Anger, like all other human emotions it is an important gift.  Like all other emotions, it’s how we handle it that makes it good or bad. I’m sure the majority of people at some point have witnessed the damage that out-of-control,

I have been working as a peacemaker and bridge-builder in racially mixed communities for the last fifteen years of my life. It’s a hard, joyous, beautiful, and messy business. The one place I have found solid ground on, is in the maxim that, “People aren’t color coded.” This means that

This past Monday was a national holiday called Memorial Day.  It is a special day in the United States for remembering those who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.  It is sometimes confused with Veterans Day, which is a national holiday to honor all those who have served

“One of the delightful things about Americans is that they have absolutely no historical memory.” – Zhou Enlai On Monday of this week, millions of Americans enjoyed a day off of work and out of school to honor their U.S. presidents – past and present.  If the quote above from

This might upset some folks at the beginning, but it is important and headed to a good place. Identity politics is quite the rage these days.  I think it is well intentioned but doesn’t lead to the place its adherents long for. Identity politics is the trend in viewing and

The Bible has a lot to share with us on the purpose of life from it’s combined centuries of experience and there seems to be a paradox that runs through these insights – a paradox on how we are to hold the purpose of our lives. The paradox of purpose

This past Sunday, I preached the first lesson in a Relationship series on Assertiveness. The part of the Bible the teaching came from was Matthew 18:15-20 where Jesus is teaching his followers how to get along with each other and navigate relationships through difficult moments. Right in the middle of

A lot of people don’t know the difference between niceness and kindness.  They sound similar, but they couldn’t be more different. The best example I’ve ever heard that illustrates the difference comes from a friend of mine while he was with the U.S. Special Forces fighting in Iraq. He had