There are tons of encouraging verses in scripture.  Perhaps one of the most well known is found in Jeremiah 29:11: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’

This is a continuation from the post about the word “sabbath” and sabbatical and is an extraction from an email we sent out earlier in the year. A pastors need for sabbatical is something that few people truly understand, which is why a second Hebrew word comes in really handy

The Bible is an incredibly diverse book with different literary genres, authors, perspectives, but there are common threads that hold it all together.  One of those threads that we see from the very beginning is the Hebrew word and concept of “Sabbath.” It is a word that means “stop,” “rest,”

A few months ago I wrote a piece called “Race Is A Meaningless Distinction” where I continued my theme that people aren’t color-coded by talking about what little you could know about two people of a different race (a white person and a black person in this example) based on

Have you ever been angry, depressed, or anxious where the same negative or hurtful message keeps playing over and over in your head?  Of course you have.  We all experience the haunting of the negative message stuck on repeat in our minds. It can be that hurtful thing that someone

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

Orthodox priest, professor, and author, Alexander Schmemann, has a wonderful book called “For the Life of the World.”  I would encourage anyone to read it, especially any Western Christian who is less familiar with the Eastern half of the family of Christianity. There is so much to share from this

British ethics professor and writer for the UK’s Independent, Paul Vallely says, “Most people in the West would be surprised by the answer to the question: who are the most persecuted people in the world? According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular group with members in 38

The 2017 Christmas Season – more accurately called “Advent” – has been really interesting in our household. My wife, Carrie, is 39.5 weeks pregnant with a due date on Christmas Day.  To add to the drama, our youngest was born two weeks early and Carrie has been having tricky contractions