Progress To A Transformed Christian Life
Faith is gut level stuff full of twists and turns, stories of wonder, valleys of frustration, holy relationships, and awkward fits and starts. Sometimes the best way to express faith is to speak to these realities but few seem to be allowed to express what is going on in the deepest levels of ourselves. Somehow,... Continue Reading →
Kevin DeYoung begins his book, Crazy Busy: A “Mercifully) Short Book on a (Really) Big Problem, with the declaration that he is “not an expert” in living an unhurried life. As you read his book, you get the sense that he hasn’t really captured what he preaches, that he is in the process of figuring... Continue Reading →
One year into his (reign? tenure? service?), Pope Francis has easily become one of the most popular figures in the world of religion and outside of religion. The guy is everywhere - cover of magazines, on 60 Minutes, all over the web. Despite what you might hear from one of these articles or pieces on... Continue Reading →
In Greater Expectations: Succeed (and Stay Sane) in an On-Demand, All-Access, Always-On Age , Claire Diaz-Ortiz discusses a particular problem and one that constantly tempts me. Diaz-Ortiz laments the time and soul sucking nature of constant information and social media. She honestly admits that her responsible and vocational intentions often fly out the window due... Continue Reading →
Digital addiction, in my opinion, is kind of like what smoking must have been in the early 20th century - completely ubiquitous with little thought to its harmful effects. Seventy years ago, the death causing aspects of smoking were fairly plain to see yet few people seemed to make much effort to remove its sway... Continue Reading →
Richard Foster's book Freedom of Simplicity was written more than 30 years ago. For a book that discusses money, materialism, and possessions, there is not much that needs to be updated. What strikes me is that so much of what he touches on in this book - moderation, simplicity, and generosity - has not become... Continue Reading →
One disturbing trend I have found in my long study of Spiritual Formation and discipleship is how quickly these ideas can be reduced to a listing of spiritual disciplines or a discussion on spirituality that seems very foreign and inaccessible. Then someone like Ruth Haley Barton comes along and Spiritual Formation moves away from what... Continue Reading →
The Power of God. This was the phrase that was repeating in my head after I finished Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians by James G. Lawson. The author used this phrase over and over to describe great and miraculous things that happened through the work of well-known and slightly well-known Christians. It has been several... Continue Reading →
Perhaps nothing is more mysterious in scripture than the story of the Magi who come to visit baby Jesus. Who were these people and where did they come from? Why make such a long journey? Couldn't they have just been satisfied with the knowledge that they had received from the stars? In The Story of... Continue Reading →
I didn't know what to expect when I first opened Thomas Kelly's A Testament of Devotion. I knew the book was listed among the best in Christian spirituality but I didn't know anything about the book.I didn't know that Kelly was a Quaker and that the essays within the book were taken from talks that... Continue Reading →
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