Society and history marks the swing of pendulums. There is a correlation between the legalism of one generation and the licentiousness of another. The pendulum swings in the church hymns – choruses – hymns – choruses. The pendulum swings in the church suits – shorts – suits – shorts. And in many subtle ways…
I have been a member of Anytime Fitness since January and have been there doing cardio or lifting a few times a week. Fitness and motivational speeches go together like coffee and doughnuts! And sometimes I roll my eyes and find the posters and “you can do it, rah, rah” type stuff a bit…
I have been reading a lot in preparation for my new sermon series “The Rest of the Week”. I am attempting to encourage the dignity of everyday work through the teaching of Scripture. It has been pretty rare in my experience to have the church talk about the work that takes up the majority of…
For a handful of us, we remember that awkward talk with our parents. THE talk. The one where many parents blushed and searched for words, mumbled some things under their breath and talked about the act of procreation. For many of us we never had that talk. We just kinda pieced things together from…
I just read a jarring headline that will be effecting my running routine for months to come. I am running low on podcasts and another pastor that I listen to regularly just resigned due to an affair. It makes me both sad and angry . . . I guess kinda “”sangry”. I am not so much…
Every indication from interactions I have had with people recently, is that we live in a “live and let live” culture. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone use the phrase, “what they are doing isn’t hurting anyone” or the closely related, “It’s their life, who am I to judge” I’d…
I cannot speak to the topic of fatherhood as an expert. I do not have a degree in sociology nor psychology. But I have been a son and am now a dad. Further, I can speak to what it has meant to be a young man growing up without my dad in my life. My…
So I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you didn’t love coffee the first time you tasted it . . . amirite? But somehow, over time your body acclimated to the caffeine, you sugared it up, added flavored creams, discovered lattes and cappuccinos and mochas . . .…
In 1952 Congress formalized into law that the first Thursday of the month of May should be set aside as a national day of prayer. I am thankful that we have a history as a nation that includes a decade like the 1950’s where there was a significant revival after the war and people indeed…
“This is the way God made me . . . ” seems to be the battle cry of our culture. It seems like his name is useful for something other than just cursing. But what I think most people mean when they say that this is the way God made me is something more…
This week is designated as Compassion Sunday for ReCAST Church. We will be watching a promotional video for Compassion International and there will be opportunities to sponsor a child in need. My family has sponsored Thong from Thailand for about 5 years now and it has been great for my children. They have written to…
Last night I attended a community forum to help a consulting firm determine the proper profile for our new superintendent in Mattawan. I was one of five people who showed up. The consultant wasn’t disappointed because he had actually received statistically significant data through an online survey, but I must confess that I was surprised…
