Healing Hereafter

Let's see, who can I be grateful for today? Well, sometimes it's the uncomfortable challenges a person is willing to subject you to that end up being worthy of great thanks, particularly if done in a respectful way. So today I want to thank my former youth pastor Randy Smith for calling me out on...

In talking to many folks about Healing Hereafter, I often hear, "I could never write a book; I wouldn't even know where to start!" Looking back to the beginning of this project, I realize both how clueless I was when I started and how much I've learned about the process to make it so comfortable...

So back in the day when I was a kid (some would argue I still am one), I was occasionally allowed to stay up late enough to watch a parent-approved TV movie, like The Wizard of Oz. My folks apparently thought it was healthy for children to have an unreasonable fear of monkeys. But one movie that...

Ahhh, it's another good day for gratitude. What I'm thankful for today is encouragement, but of a very specific kind. Not the pep rally "you can do it" kind, nor the "I'm there for you" support kind. Those are great, but the encouragement I appreciate the very most—and the kind I consider to be...

Today's post is short, sweet, and just for fun! Whether for our own children or for somebody else's, we've all run across a particularly interesting name and thought, "That is freaking awesome!" while simultaneously envisioning the "Are you serious?" look we'd get from a spouse or parent of the...

Who do you owe some thanks to and why? This post is dedicated to Jim, my dad. Yes, these first few "gratitude-type" posts have been centered around my family, but seriously, leaving them for later just couldn't be justified. I do owe them. I learned some very important values from my dad that have...

No no, this isn’t some heretical claim that people who can only take so much harp-strumming will be trying to flee heaven.  But it is one of the most important questions one can ask about whether or not heaven can truly be all it’s strung up to be!  God promises his people an eternal dwelling void...

Today's Thanksgiving once again! I gotta say, these giving gratitude posts are really fun to write, and they put my mind in a happy, healthy place. Especially today's. To Levi my 3 year-old, this one's for you. I could thank you for teaching me obscene amounts of truck trivia or all the different...

So I work with students quite a bit and essentially have since I was one myself. Quite simply, they're awesome, and it's exciting to see people with such a unique combination of passion, inexperience, idealism, silliness, and skill have so much fun while bearing so much fruit! Today's students...

Like many other religious claims, the assumption that God has been, is, and always will be perfect is one of those givens that is often unfortunately just taught and then taken for granted. Christians assert he's unchangingly flawless and base their whole purpose, life, and eternity around...