Do you remember how long the month of December was when you were a kid?  December 25th approached at the speed of a combine on a country road.  One which seemingly stalled out frequently along the way. And now?  Christmas is a bullet train.

The Calvinist God apparently says, “I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). However … it sure does wonders for My glory to send them to everlasting torment in hell.”  Among the many philosophical weaknesses of Calvinistic theology, the question of God’s motives for “passing over” the reprobates ranks pretty high in indefensibleness.  In the midst of explaining the doctrine of unconditional election, the Calvinist has to anticipate the question, “Well, if it glorifies God to save some people, why not go all the way and save everybody?” I have only ever heard four responses…

Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with these words as our pattern: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matt 6:9) Recently as I was praying this, I was struck by the juxtaposition of “Father” and “name”.  I thought of my own earthly father.  It was my custom to address him as “Dad”. In all the years I knew him, I never called him by his first name, Major. That would have been weird. On the other hand, I was aware that even though I had this special relationship with him, and though I am sure he valued…

For the past few months I have been using a free prayer app called Echo. I was not familiar with it until I was looking for resources to share in the weekly newsletter I write for Mission Resource. I have tried multiple times over my life to keep some sort of prayer journal but it’s not a habit I have ever managed to make consistent. There was something about physically writing in a little notebook that just caused too much friction. The book would get messy fast and required a lot of flipping pages back and forth.  But the Echo…

I have been staring at an empty screen – and doom scrolling on Twitter – for over an hour now. Sometimes, when I am sleepy or feeling run down, instead of writing a post, I waste a lot of time. And that, obviously, is not useful. So tonight I am admitting defeat and simply posting a quote from C.S. Lewis that I have been chewing on. It seems to be in alignment with my recent concerns:  “If Christianity should happen to be true, then it is quite impossible that those who know the truth and those who don’t should be…

Proverbs 18:17 – “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.“ When it comes to various beliefs and doctrines within the Christian faith, I am a proponent of plenty of debate and cross-examination. As the church currently operates, though, local and denominational leadership are almost universally guilty of saying to the congregation, “Here’s what you need to believe. Case closed.” If you grew up in church, who knows how many doctrines you hold onto based on the first (and likely only) interpretation you were exposed to. You may not even know which…

In Isaiah 9:1-7, the prophet’s famous words regarding the birth of Christ employ a term that is used twice here and nowhere else in the Old Testament: misrah, “government”.  6  For unto us a child is born,unto us a son is given,and the government will be upon His shoulders.And He will be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7  Of the increase of His government and peacethere will be no end.He will reign on the throne of Davidand over his kingdom,to establish and sustain itwith justice and righteousnessfrom that time and forevermore. Misrah means “rule” or “dominion”. I’m no…

(A short post tonight – it’s been a crazy few days.) Somehow, opportunities arose this week for me to speak with four missionaries. Three current and one former.  These four conversations had some things in common: Maybe I should make this a regular habit!