Welcome to my blog. I mostly write about Christian Living, but I enjoy the Kentucky Wildcats, New Orleans Saints, and a good cup of coffee.
All tagged love
Grace is a polarizing topic and it is easily misunderstood. On the one hand, you can be someone who says they believe in grace, but you still feel like God is keeping a "good works tally" on you so you better be doing the right things. In essence, you still kind of feel like you have to earn your salvation. On the other hand, you may be someone who feels like grace is the best news ever and that you can get by with some little sins here or there because God has to forgive you.
I’d like to posit the question, "Do we look attractive today?" My short answer to that question is, "No." Anyone with eyes can see the United States is a very divided nation right now. A quick glance at Christian Facebook or Twitter reveals the same thing about Christians. We honestly don’t look very different from the world…
I may be jumping the gun by calling this book an instant classic, but I don't think so. This is a unique and important book for our time. Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly, I believe, is an instant classic that people will read for years to come.
A book that has made a big impact on me this year is Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. It’s all about the heart of Christ and how he loves sinners. Leave it to J.I. Packer to be ahead of the curve on this subject. Chapter 12 was all about the love of God and as I read Packer, I heard much of what I had read from Ortlund…
In Christianity, there can be different focuses when it comes to how we express our faith and ourselves. There are those who love to serve others and be involved with helping and missions. There are those who are passionate about evangelism and/or discipleship. There are also some who love learning, studying, and theology. Most likely many are a blend of these things.
“I like Jesus, but I don’t like the church,” is what I used to say. “I’m a Christian, but my relationship with Jesus is personal.” Back when I was in high school and college, I was heavily into the Christian rock scene.
Children require much responsibility. They are completely dependent on their parents. They depend on them for food, shelter, care, and love. Unfortunately, in the broken world we live in, not all parents are dependable.
I’m at summer camp. When I was in middle/high school I went to a lot of camps and had a lot of interesting experiences. Never in my life did I think I’d be the one taking students to camp. Yet, here I am. This is my third year and third different camp. I’m becoming a pro at the whole camp thing. Sunburns and sicknesses: I’ve dealt with it all. Camp is wild, exhausting, fun, and frustrating all at the same time.
Most people are familiar with "The Parable of the Prodigal Son." We don't often realize though that Jesus didn't name the parable. Really, we should call this the parable of the prodigal sons or the parable of the loving father. Either way, I think we all relate to either one son or the other.
Last week the Royal Wedding took place. Whether you cared or not, it was all over social media. There were posts by people on both sides. Some were gushing and some were mocking. There were those debating about the details that went into it. Some thought it was elegantly simple and others thought it was simply horrific (I only know these things because of conversations I overheard by others).
There are specific points in my life that I can point you to where I don't know what I would have done without Christian community. The regular routine of doing life with other likeminded believers has profoundly changed and shaped my life. Moving to a city where I knew no one, losing my first child, and having my first child are all huge times in my life where I've had the joy of people being the hands and feet of Jesus to me.
If you've been on any social media whatsoever, you've probably heard about something called the Nashville Statement. It has seemingly been a very controversial, polarizing statement made by many evangelical leaders concerning God's design for men, women, relationships, and marriage. There have been people on all sides (including evangelicalism) condemning those who have signed the statement and one of the biggest outcries is that this statement does not represent Jesus at all and is very unloving.
