At your funeral, you will not be known for your presence on a stage, but for little acts of seemingly unnoticed kindnesses. Click to tweet. Dare to be small, friends. Dare to love when no one’s looking. Forget the platform. Forget the acclaim. Celebrity is a mirage, and a dangerous one at that. It impales […]
A couple years ago I attended a splashy conference full of vibrant energy. The speakers donned hipster clothes (they knew the trend before it became a thing), shared relevant messages, and generally pumped me up to rah-rah-rah follow Jesus. I left the conference energized but also a bit jaded and cynical. Where were the matriarchs […]
{This post initially appeared on Deeper Story.} In the Old Testament book of Chronicles, I bumped into great kings and awful kings–all people with flaws, yet some seemed to sink into sin and others remained faithful to the end. Uzziah started well. He didn’t finish well. Why? Pride. Look what he did all because of […]
I read the paper in the mornings while I eat my breakfast. One of those one page ads stared back at me, all the famous people in black and white beckoning me to attend their wealth seminar. One of the seminars was called WHY GOD WANTS YOU TO BE WEALTHY. I have much I could […]
I have the privilege of posting over at Her.meneutics today with a deeper look at Christian celebrity. The post is titled, “Even Jesus Didn’t Live Like a Christian Celebrity.” Here’s a snippet: The kingdom of God is upside down, counterintuitive. Jesus stooped. He left the nirvana of heaven to hang out on this dusty earth. […]
This is a reworking of a past post. I felt it needed to be said more boldly. This verse, oh this verse, sticks to my ribs. “We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us.” 2 Cor. 6:8a NLT I get the part about despising and slander. […]
I asked via Twitter and Facebook this question: How do you balance blessing the Kingdom of God with marketing your wares? Is there such a thing? Here are the responses: 1. A constant and careful balancing act. 2. The question implies you can’t do both at the same time; I’d check that assumption. It’s more […]
If you want to get published, start small. I certainly embraced starting small. I’d written in journals for years, recording silly things like which boy I liked in seventh grade. When I became a Christian at fifteen, my journal became a place where I could pray, lament, and ponder spiritual questions. Because I’d always been […]
There’s that pesky parable about soils that haunts me sometimes. Look at Jesus’ explanation: “The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those […]
Before you ever write a word in print, it’s important not to despise obscurity. I’ve written in journals for twenty-six years, recording silly things like which boy I liked in seventh grade or my misgivings about moving. When I became a Christian at fifteen, my journal became a place where I could pray, lament, study, […]
