Merging Our Letter With God’s (2)

Hayley Smith and Harrison Waldron met at Harding University, married in 2014 and graduated the following spring. That summer while attending a wedding in New York, Harrison was involved in an ATV accident. The injuries he received cause immediate death 90% of the time but he survived and was med-flighted to Erie, Pennsylvania. Today, overContinue reading “Merging Our Letter With God’s (2)”

Living A Fast Paced Life (2)

Fasting slows us down. Busyness is not the same thing as holiness. Most of us are in need of wait training. But we’re not alone. The book of Acts begins with the disciples being told to wait (1:4). By helping us to humbly focus on God, fasting slows us down and can serve as part of the renewal process (Romans 12:1-2). The disciple’sContinue reading “Living A Fast Paced Life (2)”

Lead Us In Prayer

Imagine a group of disciples gathered together for a special time of prayer. Before they pray, there’s a meal where large amounts of sodium, cholesterol, and fat-laden foods are consumed. Then the bulk of their praying is to the effect that God will keep everyone healthy. Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for enjoying the occasionalContinue reading “Lead Us In Prayer”

Thinking About The Atonement (2)

This much everyone agrees with—Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). But what exactly does that mean? How did His death bring us life? Here is the atonement in four parts.  1.  Jesus honored God and His purpose in creating man fully and completely. He lived to do His Father’s will in a way that no oneContinue reading “Thinking About The Atonement (2)”

A Roman Cross and a Jewish Carpenter (2)

If you take this political/religious template and lay it over the New Testament, it opens another dimension of understanding. Jesus’ birth becomes a political event. He was born to overthrow Rome. Not in the civil sense of occupying an earthly throne, but in the sense that He was to be everything Rome was pretending to be.Continue reading “A Roman Cross and a Jewish Carpenter (2)”

You Can Be Good Without God (2)

The new atheism is like a lot of things wearing the label—there’s really nothing new about it. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, and others are simply this generation’s militant atheists. They are to their time what Madelyn Murray O’Hare or Robert Ingersoll was in their day. They’re churning up the same arguments and objections toContinue reading “You Can Be Good Without God (2)”

Turning Brokenness Into Beauty

When our children were very young, my wife and I made an important economic/ascetic decision. Rather than go on vacations to places we really couldn’t afford and our kids wouldn’t appreciate, we would go to state parks instead. You could rent a cabin at just about any park for a very affordable price and withContinue reading “Turning Brokenness Into Beauty”

The God Who Believes in Man (2)

The book of Jonah provides a wonderfully rich case history of the God who believes in man. It begins with God commissioning Jonah to “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). God’s purpose in sending Jonah was not to condemn but to convict the NinevitesContinue reading “The God Who Believes in Man (2)”