I love the way Eugene Peterson translated the Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in the first chapter. He pulls the language out of the kinds of terms that religion has co-opted and allows us to see what Paul was really praying. Here is an excerpt of that prayer: …asking God to give you wise minds [...]

Our local paper ran this story from the Fresno Bee about a special-education student and a miracle basketball shot. It is not what you think. Teen’s Basket Brings Crowd To Tears This is not a story about believers, but it truly demonstrates the heart of Jesus among a group of people in a gymnasium last [...]

I remember singing the old hymn, Is Your All On the Altar? and hoping desperately it was. It was a popular song at revival meetings, last day at camp, and those it’s-time-to-repent-and-get-serious-with-Jesus sermons. We’d all go forward, pledge our new-found commitment and then find a few hours, days or weeks later that we’d lost it [...]

This was posted on an Internet list that I frequent, and reading it today touched me deeply. It is supposedly a well-known story that has circulated among the believers in China during persecution. I do not know who wrote it, but would be happy to give credit where credit is due if we can find [...]

Sara and I have enjoyed watching the first two seasons of CBS’ Joan of Arcadia. It is the story of a young high school girl whose life is continually interrupted by God as he appears to her in various forms and asks her to do things that make little sense to her. It airs at [...]

I noticed some of you were a bit concerned by the John Fischer quote, of a couple of blogs ago. This may tweak some of you even further. That’s not my desire, most people recognize how irrelevant the message of the gospel has become in our world, and I think Fischer’s article strikes at the [...]

Our Tuesday night group has just finished a study through Galatians. I love that book because it helps me break further out of a religious mindset toward the things of God and see the way he actually works with greater clarity. Case in point: ”And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in [...]

A friend of mine from Wales, sent me the following piece written by John Fischer about our engagement with the world. This piece teems with the message and spirit of Jesus. For those that thought the November elections in the US were a major Christian victory, this might give us pause and consider just what [...]

On my recent trip to Kansas, I got to enjoy one of my favorite weeks of the year. Teaching at the HIV/AIDs Intervention School at the YWAM base there, I got to have 15 students for 17 hours of concentrated discussion over four days where we get to eat, fellowship, and live together while each [...]

A friend sent me this excerpt from a diary of a relief pilot working in the tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia. This was probably three weeks into the relief effort and I’d encourage you to take the time to read it. It will give you a heart for the crisis there and those who serve [...]

I ran across an interesting article today by Alan Jaimieson (a New Zealander) in Reality Magazine titled Ten Myths of Church Leavers,. Of course, I wish he had used another term for the Sunday morning box since the church of Jesus Christ in the world is larger than any box can contain, and you really [...]

A friend sent me this clip of an article written by a brother in Japan, Kokichi Kurosaki. I like how he deals with this. One might think that with the Bible as the center of Christianity, the unity of Christians could be easily realized. Unfortunately, this has not proved to be true. This inability of [...]

For those outside the US, yesterday was our high pagan ritual to professional sports—the Super Bowl! Now I enjoy watching football, but I always feel my jaw clench whenever I hear one of our professional athletes try to invoke God’s in the process. Usually what comes out trivializes the God I love. That was true [...]

Last night Sara and I went to see Hotel Rwanda and were absolutely stunned by the power of the performances and the tragedy of the story it unfolds. As a million people were being killed in a tribal genocide the West stood by impotently ignoring the death and devastation. We didn’t care enough about the [...]