I am a lifelong introvert. Over the years, I have come to accept that fact but every now and then I wish I were an extrovert. This week I am on the campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Months ago I had signed up to lead a couple of seminars and man a table for Mission Resource here. I didn’t know if it would be a good use of my time or not – it just felt like the Spirit’s leading. But when I arrived on campus Monday, I began to question my discernment! That’s because there were…

Beyond being one of the fruits of the Spirit, the Greek work egkrates (self-control) shows up in another important passage.  Take a look at the divine math in 2 Peter 1:5b-9 –  5b Make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.…

There’s a Greek word that appears only a handful of times in the New Testament: egkrates. Its scarcity, though, is inversely proportionate to its importance. Egkrates is often translated as “self-control”, “self-discipline”, or “self-mastery”.  To show self-control’s importance, I need only point to its appearance in Galatians 5:23 where it is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. There it keeps company with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.  That’s the Big Leagues. But we don’t give self-control a lot of attention. In fact, most of the time if we do mention it, we…

Poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman once wrote, “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to live the width of it as well.” According to Wikipedia, Ackerman has packed a lot of adventures into her seven-plus decades of life: She has done field research in Patagonia, Japan, Brazil, Hawaii, the Amazon rainforest, and Antarctica.  She can even claim the honor of having a particular molecule named after her – “dianeackerone” – a sex pheromone in crocodiles.  Now that is something to put at the top of your…

Our daughter Sarah is hoping to go to Peru with a group from our church next summer to work at a missionary and minister in various ways in a small village halfway up the mountains. Melissa and I are in full support.  We know short term mission trips can be meaningful for team members and useful for the Kingdom. After all, Melissa’s mission trip to Haiti in 2010 is where the Lord first started prompting us toward fulltime missionary service. And as a youth pastor, I even led a number of such trips over the years. And they were worthwhile…

I was shaken today to hear of a childhood friend’s death. We grew up going to the same church, same junior high, and same high school. And Jay’s parents were friends with my parents.  I don’t know any details about his death, but I am guessing he had a heart attack.  I feel for his wife and children.  Jay and I ran with different crowds outside of church, so I can’t say we were ever super close. And it’s probably been at least a decade since I last saw him face to face.  Still, there’s something quite startling and unnerving…

1 Cor 9:19-22 is a familiar passage: 19 Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. 21 To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those…

In the new Information Age, where we have all-day access to the ruminations of hundreds of people on social media and where an algorithm suggests various articles, videos, and podcasts on a myriad topics, I find I like and appreciate books more and more.  Especially books on paper.  I can sit with my book and my pen, underlining and commenting as much or as little as I like.  And the beauty of these comments I write in the margins of my books? They are solely meant for my own betterment. Not to one-up complete strangers. But here’s what I am…