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Once upon a time, before anything big, bad, or very confusing had happened in my life, I was a college student walking along a beach with some friends. There was nothing particularly special about the day, or the beach, or the season of life. But in the middle of it God gave me an object lesson that has been one of the most enduring and impactful I’ve learned.

Let me be honest from the outset—I don’t like making covenants or pledges of loyalty, and outside of my wedding vows, I think I’ve only entered legally binding contracts like the ones I signed to buy my house and accept employment. So, when the topic of church covenants comes up, I get a little tense. This isn’t to say that I object to church covenants wholesale; rather, I think they should only be entered into prayerfully and after a potential church member has discussed the

For example, consider old man’s beard lichen. It looks like a plant but it actually consists of two organisms; fungus and algae living in a mutualistic relationship. They need each other to thrive and survive. The fungus protects the algae from the environment and is a moisture source while algae produce food for both.  They are at their best and most healthy when they work together. This is known as a mutual symbiosis. While ecologists debate the nuances of these relationshi

The holiday season can be the best of times and the worst of times, to steal a phrase from novelist Charles Dickens in his classic, A Tale of Two Cities. We are pulled in all sorts of directions, and the expectation seems to be that we’ll be full of merriment throughout it. The truth is, though, that if you’ve experienced loss, whether through death of a loved one or by way of spiritual abuse, the holidays can be exceedingly difficult,

When I was in high school, the Left Behind series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye were all the rage. I remember heading to the Sam’s Club on release day to get the newest book in the series, and I’d devour it quickly. I was wrapped up in the rapture, and so were a lot of people. At the time, I attended a Catholic high school, and one of my classmates saw me with one of the Left Behind books. He asked me about it and had a lot of specific questions about rapture theology.

I’ve always been the kind of parent who has been as transparent as possible with my kids. For example, I’ve never shied away from telling them how much I make, something that so many of us were told was none of our business while we were growing up. In my opinion, it’s best to include my kids in difficult or challenging discussions, too.

Have you ever stumbled upon a situation online where one Christian was calling out another Christian publicly for sin? I’ve seen this when someone holds a belief that doesn’t align with Scripture, but I’ve also seen instances where people are publicly accused of abuse or of covering up abuse. Inevitably, someone in the comments will say, “You should follow Matthew 18.” When I see comments like that, I usually ask myself, “Does Matthew 18 even apply here?”