You would think me bitter if I told you I would gladly trade places with him, the man. Although they’d stormed in on both of us, it was me they took, me they blamed, while he cowered in the corner next to my bed. But I am not bitter. I pray for him, and his wife, his children, and now his grandchildren, too. He has all and yet, I’m afraid, nothing. I would trade him places that he could have the...
Plot Twist 2: Flesh
Sin doesn’t grant you permission to do what you want. It gives you no option but to do what it wants. And worse yet, to believe the want has come from you.
Plot Twist
Have you ever watched a film where, right near the end, you find out a new piece of information that turns all you thought you knew about the plot and flips it on its head? I think here of The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, Shutter Island, or The Prestige. In each, you get just one additional sliver of information and suddenly scenes that didn’t quite make sense now do and other...
Merciful Refusal
Too many people have the unfortunate problem of managing quite nicely. Quite nicely is nice when all things are well, but when there’s a secret moral failure, a destructive pattern, a relational problem, or a long-buried wound, managing quite nicely is a problem. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. It’s a silent misery. As a 19 year old Christian college student, I was harboring secret sexual sins...
What Lies Beneath
I was recently given the daunting task to give a comprehensive lecture on the topic of sex within one hour. How could I possibly do justice to this topic in such a short amount of time? Of course I knew to seek the Lord’s leading on how to best face this challenge and was shown that I should not focus on surface behaviors. There were deeper issues to be addressed and as I pondered what to...
Tail on Fire
Like a cat with its tail on fire, we run thinking it’s a matter of self-preservation. But nothing could be further from the truth.