We’re not too comfortable, it seems, with being real—particularly about the most painful, or sinful, or out-of-control parts of our lives. What if we were?
Uncomfortable
Do you ever feel uncomfortable being a Christian where you live, work, or play? I’ve just finished Ian Morgan Cron’s book, Chasing Francis.* In it, the main character observes: “Once you’ve been outed as a conservative Christian, [people] assume you’re a right-wing, self-satisfied fundamentalist with all the mental acuity of a houseplant.” I’ve felt this way sometimes. It tempts me to hide. 1...
Touch
For many men where I live, a handshake is the greeting of choice, sometimes even among close friends. One of my friends rejects this norm openly. If I reach out to shake his hand, he grabs it, pulls me in and gives me a hug. I love it. No, it’s more than that. I need it. Touch isn’t optional. I love the story of the leper who fell down at Jesus’ feet asking, “Lord, if you’re willing, you can make...
4 Lesser-Known Leadership Tips
Four tips for leaders concerned with helping those who most need their leadership.
Jesus Isn’t Scared
Anxiety is a breeding ground for sin. So when an area of sin in your life or in a loved one’s creates anxiety in you, it doesn’t help. In fact, it can make things worse. Have you experienced this? In stark and beautiful contrast, Jesus is not anxious: He talks alone with a scandalously sinful woman as though she were his next-door neighbor (John 4:5 – 26). He invites himself to lunch at a corrupt...
Gold for Stones
The good news doesn’t start with people as sinners with whom God is angry. It starts in the beginning. And if we miss this, the good news will fail to be good news. In the beginning, God made man and woman to be the Imago Dei—the image of God on the earth. By God’s design, all of creation recognized them with joyful awe. They were the ones the Creator had joyfully made like Himself. Or as John...
