As I’m sure all of you know, I have a policy of not sharing opinions about politics on Facebook. I don’t believe Facebook is a great platform for discussing things that we all tend to feel passionate about, unless those passions are strongly loving and able to be expressed positively. But I am challenged by my friend, Gina Bell’s post, to break with my tradition about that policy this once. At least the politics part of it—not the loving and positive one. I hope I can express my beliefs lovingly and positively here. I never want to offend anyone, not because I’m afraid of their reaction, but because I don’t want to hurt anyone, or add more heat than light to whatever issue we’re talking about. I want everything I share here to be not only truthful and loving but uplifting and profitable for making the world a better place. So here goes: my break with tradition—my thoughts on the current political climate in the U.S. Like many of my Facebook friends, I am worried ...
This article was originally posted in the FECB blog on January 22, 2013 We mean well. We really want our friends to know Jesus. But too often we approach them with wrong ideas in our heads. If we really want to be effective witnesses, we should be aware of five common myths about evangelism. Myth #1: There are two kinds of people: them and us. It's a mistake to see everyone as being on one side of the fence or the other. That's not the appropriate metaphor. There's no fence. There's a road, and we're all walking on it. For sure, there's a point in every person's journey when they choose to follow Jesus. But it's only a step along the path. The road continues. None of us has arrived until we get to heaven, and we're all learning as we go. The people we want to share Jesus with are just fellow travelers. Realizing this opens up a whole new way of seeing others, and it will cha...
My heart is heavy. Summer weather has finally come. I should be enjoying the August sun and the season of rest before school starts. Instead I'm struggling to hang onto joy. What a waste of beautiful weather! But sun in the heart doesn't always follow sun in the sky. That's life. Maybe I've been reading too much world news. No. The problem is closer than that. I'm seeing the spiritual apathy and emptiness in my own little world. And, too often, in my own little heart. I'm comparing the fruitful way God used to work, in both my world and my heart, with the spiritual barrenness that seems to surround me. I wonder, sometimes, if God is even able to reach any of us in our current culture of self-satisfaction and apathy. A TIME FOR DOUBTS It's somewhat comforting to know I'm not the first to feel this angst. This morning I opened my Bible to Psalm 77. In verses ...
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