From Wm. Paul Young. I was sitting in a hotel lobby in Orlando, Florida, having a conversation with my friend K, from Germany. Her world-class young athlete friend was recently paralyzed as a result of an on-camera stunt that went horribly wrong. K was distraught. She dried her eyes and said, “I struggle believing this …
By Jordan Bates at Shine. We want everyone to like us, but we shouldn’t. As social creatures, we are concerned, often to a fault, with whether or not we are enjoyed, appreciated, and respected by those around us. We pander to the whims of others, hoping to please everyone (or at least find few enemies). …
By Andy Gill at patheos. Growing up in the white evangelical church I always found there to be a disconnect. No matter how hard I tried to fit in I couldn’t seem to find any connection with my surroundings. I didn’t understand and neither could I fully comprehend why. I grew up in the same neighborhood(s), wore …
Here’s a laugh from The Babylon Bee. FOUR CORNERS, OR—According to sources at Four Corners Baptist Church, pastor Evan Jefferson told the congregation Sunday he was wrapping up his message a full 45 minutes before his sermon actually ended. “I’ll close with this,” Jefferson said approximately half an hour into his message, and 45 minutes before …
By Rachel Hooker at patheos. I am not a very good Christian any more. I used to think that under it all, I was doing the things right and that counted for something. That it counted for a lot. I wanted God’s blessing and God’s protection, and to get those one must do all the things just …
From Jeremy Myers at Redeeming God. Inevitably, whenever I speak or write about grace this way, someone objects that I am contradicting Paul who said in Romans 6:1 that we should not continue in sin so that grace may abound. Whenever someone asks this question, I am always pleased, because it shows that they are …
By Wm. Paul Young from Lies We Believe About God. I wrote The Shack at the request of my wife, Kim. She’d asked, “Would you someday please write something as a gift for our kids that puts in one place how you think? Because, you know, you think outside the box.” She was referring to …
By Russ Shumaker found at patheos. In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis points out that westerners have been largely spared an age-old experience regarding our legal system: In most places and times it has been very difficult for the “small man” to get his case heard. The judge (and doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to …
More humor from The Babylon Bee. WEST LAFAYETTE, IN—According to a recent study released by Purdue University, the most effective way to exchange ideas with another person is to immediately call that person a Nazi. Researchers compared the method of communication with other popular forms of dialogue, and logged the results over thousands of different …
By Russell Croft from patheos. Much is made of our free will, our ability to choose good or evil, to accept God or reject him. The adage, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” is still said frequently at youth rallies, revival meetings, and on street corners, with the implication that the hearer …