I heard a wonderful story a while back from the competitive shooting world. Like other sports, there are few people who can bring together all of the qualities necessary to compete at the highest levels of the competitive shooting world.  And in this case I’m specifically meaning pistol shooting.  You

The concept of virtue signaling might seem rather new these days, but it is as old as humanity itself. Virtue signaling is the conspicuous, intentionally out-in-the-open expression of moral values, moral righteousness, or political orthodoxy. It can be as small as dropping a key word or phrase here or there,

Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule where Jesus tells his followers, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). It is a command to extend our natural self love, self

One of the most common messages of God to people throughout scripture is “Remember.”  Over and over again God tells people, “Remember me.  Remember me.  Don’t forget what I’ve done for you.  Don’t forget what I’ve taught you.  Don’t forget who I am to you.  Don’t forget me. Don’t forget

Here is a confession – I get pretty frustrated about prayer sometimes and angry and frustrated with the ONE I am praying to. I know I’m not supposed to. After all, I’m a pastor and a longtime Christian.  I think the expectation is that I’m supposed to have unwaveringly serene

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.’

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

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

If you are just starting out learning about the Bible and Christianity or trying to help someone get a good start, it can get overwhelming pretty fast. Not only is the Bible big, it’s not actually just one book.  The Bible contains sixty-six different books that are written by different

[Click HERE for Part 1: The Problem] After years of trial and error, my best answer is, only give to poor people that you know.  Only give to people that you know their story, you know the people they know, and you know their situation beyond just the things they