An Editor’s Take on Megan Basham’s ‘Shepherds for Sale’
September 2, 2024 Everybody loves an editor. (Ha, that’s the closest you’ll get to an editor joke.) The truth is, nobody likes being told all the ways they could have said what they said better. But it’s also true that every writer needs a good editor, which is why I never like to publish or […]
Pray for the Gift of Seeing the Smallest Humans
July 12, 2024 “Zuzu’s petals! Zuzu—there they are! Burt! What do you know about that?!”—George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life A few years back, I let Nacho Libre get bumped to second place as It’s a Wonderful Life became my favorite movie. In this movie, George Bailey expends himself bettering his small community and raising […]
What We Learn from Two Hebrew Midwives
When I think of people who show and live out their allegiance to God in the Bible, I immediately think of Shiphrah and Puah. They are better known as the Hebrew Midwives who saved Israelite baby boys at a time when opposing rulers called them to be killed. These midwives could have done the easy […]
The Scariest Nice Person in Your Church
What comes to mind when you think of “one-hand clapping”? Perhaps you think of the Zen “koan” in which the Zen master asks the student, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” For months, the student searches for it in vain until meditating and arriving at the “soundless sound” that transcends all sound.[1] “One […]
What We Discover About Ourselves in a Post-Roe World
March 5, 2024 We are living in a post-Roe world. Does it feel like you thought it would? Me neither. Some context: In 1973, the Supreme Court ruling called Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion throughout the U.S., appealing to women’s constitutional right to privacy. States were prohibited from restricting abortion in the first trimester, while […]
Why Not Abortion? An Answer to My Teenage Daughter
Yesterday, I was on the road coming back from two weeks at a summer conference for high school students when I got a call from my daughter. She was full of questions and anxiety. Like the rest of us, she had just heard about the SCOTUS ruling overturning Roe. She had already seen students expressing […]
The End of Roe v. Wade: 5 Pastoral Reflections
I have prayed and voted for the end of Roe vs Wade for many years because I believe the Bible teaches that life begins at conception. See 5 Reasons Jesus Teaches Us to Choose Life As we see the end of Roe v. Wade, here are 5 reflections that I am commending to our church […]
God: Fighter for the Unborn and Forgiver of the Repentant
*Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Countercultural Living: What Jesus Has to Say About Life, Marriage, Race, Gender, and Materialism. Starting with the death of Abel, God distinguishes between those who are killed by others and deaths that occur in situations such as wars, accidental deaths, and government-mandated capital punishment. Exodus 20:3–17 lists the […]
