A New Year is always a time for reflection. Even though nothing literally “resets” on January 1, there is this sense of a clean slate, like someone has shaken the etch-a-sketch and given us a chance to create something fresh and new. In this spirit of optimism and...
I get sappy at Christmas. I’ve always wondered if it’s the warmth of the season, the schmaltzy music, and the cheesy Hallmark movies that make me sappy, or if I’m really this sappy all the time and just cover it up the other eleven months of the year. I believe it’s...
What is your worst Christmas memory? I have two worst Christmas memories. First Worst Christmas The first is one of my earliest childhood memories. I wanted a fire truck for Christmas. I had pointed it out to my parents in the window of the store where we lived in...
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” -Colossians 1:19-20 Many of us over the years experienced a similar event, whether in...
I have to admit, talking about my faith has always made me a bit uncomfortable. From a church pulpit? Of course. Here on the blog? No problem. It’s expected. But in normal, everyday life? It can be a little awkward trying to insert Jesus into a mailbox conversation...
This is a story of a Business as Mission (BAM) practitioner on the field using business as a mechanism for planting the church in areas of the world where you can’t do that with traditional missionary methods. In order to protect the work being done we will not be...
This is a story of a Business as Mission (BAM) practitioner on the field using business as a mechanism for planting the church in areas of the world where you can’t do that with traditional missionary methods. In order to protect the work being done we will not be...
I have an unwritten policy about not commenting too quickly on current events, but with the news buzzing about the tragic death of John Allen Chau, an American missionary killed while attempting to make contact with a remote Sentinelese tribe on a small island in the...
John Madden’s famous Six-legged Turkey is being prepped for Thursday’s NFL postgame show. Church signs are splashed with Thanksgiving themed bible verses (which, let’s admit, is a welcome change from most church sign content). Facebook walls are awash in “thankfulness...
A few years ago on a visit to North Africa, we visited a sobering place called the Tophet. This vast expanse lined with tiny gravestones is a primitive burial ground for little babies. But it’s really much more than a cemetery. The History For about 400 years, from...
Merry Christmas friends. I absolutely love this time of year. I’ve always loved this time of year, but I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a little bit sappier and even a little more weepy this time of year because ‘ve grown to feel the weight of what the Christmas season really means, and I think all of us understand there’s something that’s just not right with the world that that even when good things happen, they’re not ultimately fulfilling.
For those of you who may not know, I’m a huge Indianapolis Colts football fan. In fact, my family gets a little concerned about me during the games, during the autumn football season, because I can get pretty intense. Weather I’m physically at Lucas Oil Stadium, you know yelling and screaming, or if I’m in my own living room screaming, the dogs underneath the table in fear or making my neighbors wonder if they should call the police for a domestic disturbance.
You know every Monday morning at our housing company, CRF Affordable Housing, we have a conference call where all of our staff across the state of Indiana can call in and kind of give updates on things that are happening at each of the properties, share stories, and we’re able to share things with them as well. But, the way we have committed to start this call every Monday morning is that everyone shares a win; everyone shares something good that’s happened. Maybe at their property, within the context of their work, or even within their own family or something personal that’s happened.