Demonstrate Our Faith by What We Do I enjoy the writing and teaching of James. His words offer concise, practical teaching about being a follower of Jesus. James talks about the great faith of Abraham, exemplified by his willingness to kill his son Isaac in obedience to God. (Spoiler alert: It was only a test. […]
What Do You Expect When You Pray? When you make a bold prayer, what do you expect? Do you anticipate God will answer your request, or do you brace yourself for disappointment? More to the point, are you more surprised when your prayers are answered or surprised when they’re not? Some people pray with little […]
Are We the Same or Different? I’m so excited to guest post on a friend’s blog—and I hope you’ll find it worth your time to read it! (To make it easier, I’ll try to keep things short.) It won’t take long for you to notice that my writing style is different from Grace’s. She writes […]
In farming, a silo is a tower used to store grain. The business world, however, turned silo into a metaphor, such as information silos or organizational silos, symbolizing assimilation and isolation. These business silos function as a repository of information or power—hoarded and not shared, either by plan or by practice. With silos, there’s an […]
Last week we talked about Moses’ mistake of hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. He did this in disobedience to what God told him to do. The Bible calls this sin. As a result of Moses’ mistake, that is his sin, he was only permitted to see the land God promised to give […]
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America By Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)Divided by Faith investigates race relations between whites and blacks in the United States. Although white evangelicals have a well-intentioned desire to end racial inequality, their efforts can—and have—unwittingly serve to do more […]
I recently read an article where the author lamented, “Young people are leaving the church.” A bit later he wrote, “Young people don’t stick with their faith.” His implication was that the two statements meant the same thing. They do not—and assuming they do is part of the problem. I’ve had frequent, ongoing struggles with […]
When some people pray, they pray expecting God will answer their prayers and good things will happen. When other people pray, they pray expecting there’s only an outside chance God will come through; bad things are bound to happen. When you pray do you expect God to say “yes” or expect him to say “no?” […]
The Connections Between Faith and Writing Last weekend I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Although the words “faith” and “writing” both appear in the conference name, I expected the benefits of attending to be primarily writing related. While my expectations to learn more about the art and craft […]
Check out these books of the Bible, which are not found in all versions, but are in others, such as The Jerusalem Bible: Tobit Tobit is a story of Tobiah who journeys with Raphael to retrieve some money for his father (Tobit). Along the way he is attacked by a fish and gets married; when […]