It’s a real pleasure when you’re talking to someone who does not know you, who then proceeds to compliment you on something you created.  You know for certain that they are not just being nice, because they have no idea...

What if we were able to interact with God the Father, not just as Jesus’ Dad, but as our own? As his child? At the end of John 16, things are tense. Have you ever walked out of a conversation...

“God spoke to nothing and created something, He spoke to chaos and it became order, He spoke to darkness and it became a light.” AW Tozer. I look back at Biblical characters, theologians, and heroes of the faith and find they have...

Growing Anxious A few weeks ago, a student from my on-campus Bible study expressed an interest in studying the book of James together in our group.  I agreed, forgetting for a moment one simple, long-standing opinion I have about the...

Today’s blizzard reminds me of wintery days at Cornell where the trek over the river and through the woods to class would require I bring two extra changes of clothes: one for if the temperature dropped and another for if...

  A new semester always brings me a sense of boundless optimism, usually along the lines of “I can do all the things!!” I have trouble remembering the burnout that overcommitment brought me in previous semesters, and feel (once again)...

“I can’t worship a God that allows so much pain and suffering.” “I think Jesus was a great teacher, but I don’t think he resurrected after he died.” “How can you really believe that Jesus actually turned water into wine...

C.S. Lewis’ writings are, for most Christians, the most significant influence in their spiritual lives (second only to the Bible). His intellect, his wit, and his imagination have captivated both readers and thinkers, atheists and Christians, college grads and high school...

I love missional communities. Not simply for theological reasons, but because of how they help cultivate spiritually healthy people. As I have taught and practiced missional community over the past year and a half, there have been three main ways...

For those of us in the Catholic tradition, today is the feast day of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.  Frances Cabrini was born near the city of Milan, Italy in 1850.  Fascinated as a young girl by the stories of missionaries,...