The season of Advent often feels like you’re standing just at the edge of dawn. Have you ever been up in the morning for a sunrise? Then you know exactly what I’m talking about: The sky is still dim. The world is quiet. Yet there is just enough light on the horizon to tell you that morning … More Hope Refines
226 years ago, in the year 1799, a twelve-year-old boy named Conrad Reed, skipped Sunday School to go fishing. He found a place to fish along Little Meadow Creek on his family’s farm in North Carolina. While standing by the creek, young Conrad saw what he thought was a “yellow rock shining in the water.” … More The Generous Life
A response to the political violence in Minnesota Dear friends, The grief that washed over Minnesota yesterday cuts deep into the soul of our community. Yesterday, our state lost a remarkable leader: former House Speaker and current DFL caucus leader Melissa Hortman, along with her husband Mark, who were shot and killed in their Brooklyn Park home. … More Holding on to Hope:
There are lies that the world tells us. There are untruths that we hear over and over, and over again…and, we begin to believe. These false narratives disrupt our lives, harm our relationships, and do damage to our souls. But for each of these lies, there is a corresponding truth. It is a word that counters the lie…it … More Who Do You Think You Are?
When my dad decided it was time for me to learn how ride a bike, he didn’t think I needed to go through the “training wheel” stage. My Dad had a theory: he understood balance, and he knew that to master balance, you need to have momentum. It’s harder to balance when you’re peddling very slowly, right? So his … More When the Training Wheels Come Off
It was somewhere around the year 1890, when Christian missionaries arrived in for northern Alaska, above the Arctic Circle, where members of the Inuit tribe had lived for a couple thousand years. After arriving, one of the first things the missionaries hoped to accomplish was to get the Bible translated into the Inuit’s native language. Now, … More Joy Comes With the Morning
Last week, Lori and I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark to spend a few days with our youngest son, Sam, who has been studying there this semester. It was fun for us because A) we got to spend some time with Sam, and B) he had been living there for 12 weeks, so we had our … More Permanent
Knee High by the 4th of July On the 4th of July, Lori and I took Kennedy for a walk “around the block.” It’s a long block. A little over a mile. And it takes us past the corn fields that are on Partridge Ave. I commented to Lori that the corn was definitely “knee … More Knee High by the 4th of July
On one of Lori’s and my hikes last year to see waterfalls on the north shore, we came across this message, scrawled on the railing of a bridge that crossed the river below Gooseberry Falls: “Everything will be Okay.” It brought a smile to my face and comfort to my heart. And it reminded me … More Everything Will Be Okay
“A man and a woman were walking along a crowded sidewalk in New York City. Suddenly, the woman, who was a zoologist, said, ‘Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket,’ but the man could not hear the sound. He asked: “How can you possibly hear a cricket, in the middle of all of this noise, and … More What We Listen For
Test Driving Theology 