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As I finished New Year’s week reflecting on Jesus’s early life, I came across a passage about Jesus at the age of twelve. Hoping to take something away from it into my new year, I asked “What was Jesus like at the age of twelve?” Luke 2: 39-52 Wasn’t Jesus human too? One of theRead more

After the Holiday season is over, most of us return to the normal everyday routines of life. Getting back to life as usual can be reinvigorating but it can also sometimes feel a bit ordinary and plain. Even empty. But we push through it, hoping to find some kind of inspiration for the coming year.Read more

On the night of Jesus’s birth, there was no room in the… Sometimes I wonder if I’ve heard this story so many times that I’m missing the beauty of it this time of year. Christian churches over the last hundred years have created serene sets with nicely behaved animals and card companies put Hallmarkesque imagesRead more

Shame is a horrible feeling. Especially when you’re alone in it. That’s why when we hear someone else’s story of shame and how they worked through it, we can often identify with them. And that’s comforting because we realize we are not alone. There are many reasons people feel shame. But it is especially difficultRead more

The following is an Advent reflection for the Christmas season. Advent and Lent have been part of the Christmas and Easter seasons for much of church history. For more on Advent, click here. Family trees A few years ago, my sister researched our family tree on my mom’s side of the family and put togetherRead more

BOOK REVIEW Peter Enn’s book The Sin of Certainty: Why God desires our trust more than our correct beliefs has become a new favorite of mine. In it, Enns confronts the faulty but popular assumption that in order for faith to be true faith, a Christian must maintain clear and unequivocal theological certainty. In other words,Read more

Our national filter It should not be a surprise that where we were born and raised has had a profound influence on our lives (culturally, politically, economically, socially, psychologically and religiously). Had we been born and raised in another family, in another place or even another country, we might have a very different understanding aboutRead more

Rights Rights are a beautiful thing. But what if clinging to those rights puts you in opposition to the way of Jesus? And what if the very one you call Lord is asking you to lay them down for the sake of others? Born in the USA I was born and raised in the USA (quickRead more

It may appear like our nation is more divided than ever. At least, that’s what our politicians would like to have us believe. Simple “fact checks” are not so simple or easy regardless of the news source you read, watch or listen to. At the same time, talk of a “divided nation” is not aRead more

Quick recap This post follows my previous post titled Is the Bible error-free?” and video on the same topic. I encourage you to read and watch those first to get some context. Let me be clear I am not interested in giving up on the Bible and God or telling other people to do theRead more