When I was in seminary I had a suitemate who had a simple litmus test for true Christianity: If you didn’t believe that the Creation happened in six literal days as related in the first chapters of Genesis, you simply were not a real Christian. I wasn’t so sure that he was right about the literal days, but I didn’t want to debate him and risk exposing myself as a heretic. Today we visited the Ark Encounter. That’s Ken Hamm’s elaborate recreation of Noah’s Ark on a Kentucky hill.  I don’t know that Hamm would agree with my seminary friend…

I love Maxiane’s spirit. Yesterday morning, we mentioned that our friends, the Hollands, had offered to take us out on their boat in the evening if we thought Maxiane would enjoy it.  Here was my conversation with her about the plan around mid-morning:  Me: The Hollands want to take you tubing this evening if you are up for it. Maxiane: Tubing?! Sure, that sounds fun. I’ve never gone tubing before. I would love to. Me: So you are up for being dragged behind the boat on a tube? Maxiane: Behind a BOAT?! Me: Yeah, on a lake. Maxiane: On a…

Now and then I experience a worship service that far transcends the ordinary expectations of a Sunday morning. It becomes a glimpse of the new heavens and the new Earth. This morning our home church, Community Church of Columbus, celebrated its 30th birthday with a special gathering at a local park.  On a typical Sunday morning, our church consists of three different congregations, each in a different language – English, Spanish, and Chinese. This morning all three joined together on a hillside at Mill Race Park.  The combination of past and present church members and leaders and several cultures expressing…

When we lived in Haiti, there was nothing that could generate more anticipation, excitement and joy for our family than to have a visitor from Indiana. We would set aside time and make plans, eager to introduce our American friends to the food, the sights and the people that we loved in Haiti.  Today felt much the same, only this time we are in Indiana and we are welcoming our first Haitian visitor, a former student to Melissa and me and a former classmate to Samuel, Hannah, and Caleb. I picked her up at the Indianapolis airport this evening and…

As part of our anniversary celebration, Melissa and I spent a good number of hours over the last two days wandering through antique shops. In most of these establishments, true antiques are in the minority. 97% of the merchandise should be called “old junk that somebody hopes to turn into cash”.  I enjoy walking through these shops, but that 97% … if you brought any of it into my home as a gift, I would wait until you left and throw it in the garbage.  But SOMEBODY likes this stuff. Desires this stuff. Would pay money for this stuff. These…

21 years ago today I married this remarkable woman. By the time I was 31 years old, I had almost convinced myself that I was going to be single forever.  And then I met Melissa.  I was smitten by the end of our first evening together, in love by two weeks, proposing within four months, and married in less than eight.  (I wasn’t going to give her time for second thoughts!) I knew on our wedding day that I was blessed. I had no idea how much more blessed I would feel 21 years later. 

It took a year, but I finished my bathroom remodel project which began with the installation of a larger shower and snowballed into a room extension with added cabinetry, an enclosed floor-to-ceiling drain pipe, and a recessed medicine cabinet.  The last big piece of the renovation was bare concrete floor where tile should have been. Two spots lacked tile – at the far end of the room where some tile was removed during the replacement of the shower and at the door where the room had been extended by several feet. It was weeks that then turned into months that…