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A La Carte (March 29)

15 Reflections from My 15 Years of Experience as a Pastor

Brian Najapfour offers up 15 excellent reflections based on his 15 years of pastoring.

Faithlessness Shrinks You Down To a Grasshopper

Trevin Wax: “Thinking too little of God sometimes leads you to think too little of yourself. For years, I thought it was the other way around. I always thought that seeing God as big meant I needed to see myself as small. Or, to put it another way, the bigger my vision of God grows, the more my vision of myself will shrink. Wrong.”

Will Phoebe Have Down’s Syndrome in Heaven?

This is a short but powerful reflection in which a father answers his son.

The Hardest Thing About Being a Missionary

It turns out that the hardest thing about being a missionary is also the hardest thing about being a pastor. That leads this pastor/missionary to a meditation on loving people even when it is difficult.

Love and Entitlement

Over the last little while, Melissa has been penning a lot of small articles like this one that reflect on the nature of true love compared to versions that are fraudulent or ridiculous. This time it’s “making sure that our relationships are about US getting what WE want, and if the other person can’t deliver on our list of demands, then they just aren’t worthy of us.”

This Day in 1788. 228 years ago today, evangelist and hymn writer Charles Wesley died. *

Homophobia Has No Place in the Church

“Simply put, homophobia means a fear of homosexuality and, more specifically, homosexual people. And while it is not the same as loving, biblical opposition to certain behaviors or beliefs, this fear-based attitude often leads to unhelpful stereotypes, prejudice, and even cruel mistreatment. So let’s call a spade a spade. Homophobia exists, and it has no place in the church.”

How Clinton’s Email Scandal Took Root

The Washington Post has a long and interesting explanation of how Hillary Clinton’s email scandal began and took root.

Syria and My Prayerlessness

I think we have all had these moments: “My heart sank on Sunday morning when someone prayed aloud for the Syrian refugees. I had forgotten all about them.” I appreciate Laura Booz’s reflection and determination.

Greear

In the Bible we find no gap between the call to follow Jesus and the call to engage in mission.

—J.D. Greear

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…