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  • A Family Update for the Holiday Season

    A Family Update for the Holiday Season

    I am so glad that the holiday season is finally upon us. And as much as I enjoy all the feasts and festivities, what I’m most looking forward to is days of rest and times with family. We anticipate that the next couple of weeks will be fairly low-key, and that’s okay by us. 2023…

  • Random Pieces of Advice About the Local Church

    32 Random Thoughts About the Local Church

    Every now and again I jot down a thought that I’d like to ponder but that I don’t intend to tease out into an article. After all, not every idea is worthy of a full-length treatment. Hence, today I’ve got a long list of brief, random (and unsolicited) observations and pieces of advice related to…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Prayer to Our Father

    From time to time I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray before the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. It’s a precious element of a service. I prayed this…

  • A Biblical-Theological Examination of Melancholy

    Today’s post is sponsored by BJU Seminary and written by Brian Hand, professor of New Testament interpretation. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust. Melancholia—on a spectrum from simple sadness to profound discouragement, then crossing a moral line into despair—marks…

  • As the Outer Is Peeled Away

    As the Outer Is Peeled Away

    There are many different ways to chart the journey through life. We can do it in life stages, like childhood to adulthood to middle age to old age. We can do it in decades, like teens to twenties to thirties and so on. But lately I’ve been pondering the passing of the generations, how when…

  • You Will Never Regret The Sins You Do Not Commit

    You Will Never Regret The Sins You Do Not Commit

    There are a few little phrases I think about and repeat to myself on a regular basis. One of the simplest but most frequent is this: You will never regret the sins you do not commit. It’s basic. It’s easy. It’s obvious. But I need to hear it again and again. Like you, I know…

  • When Only Your Family Is Looking

    Who Are You When Only Your Family Is Looking?

    One of the customs of our church is to thoroughly evaluate the men we call to be pastors and elders. Once we identify a candidate for the office, and once he has indicated his interest, we complete a thorough evaluation of his life and character. We work through a document that describes the qualifications the…

  • Poking God in the Eye

    Have You Poked God in the Eye?

    Have you ever been poked in the eye? Or have you ever gotten a speck of dust in your eye and learned how it takes just the tiniest piece of grit to cause the severest amount of pain? The smallest particle of dirt has the ability to incapacitate the biggest and strongest of men when…

  • Articles Collection cover image

    How Long Has It Been Like This?

    It is an experience I have had and, in all likelihood, one you have had as well. I have gone to the doctor to tell him about some pain, some illness, some ailment, and he has asked, “How long has it been like this?” Sheepishly I’ve had to admit, “It has been months” or “It’s…

  • Before You Go On the Attack

    Before You Go On the Attack

    A classic strategy in times of warfare is to dehumanize the enemy. No sooner has a conflict broken out than the two sides begin to refer to one another as animals rather than men, as mere creatures rather than human beings. It is difficult to harm another person and abnormal to kill one. Our humanity…

  • Purpose in Pain

    The Blessing of a Higher Purpose in Our Pain

    It is amazing what struggles people will endure when they do so for a purpose they believe in. It is amazing what struggles people will deliberately bring upon themselves when they believe such struggles are the means to a desirable end. Athletes endure endless hours of training, excruciating times of preparation, and the pain of…

  • Yeah

    Are You a “Yeah, But…” Christian?

    I have long observed a fascinating but concerning tendency when I read one of the Bible’s clear commands. I have observed it in myself and I have observed it in others. It’s the tendency to turn quickly from what the Bible does command to what it does not, from the plainest sense of one of…

  • One Unexpected Key To a Joyful Marriage

    One Unexpected Key To a Joyful Marriage

    You probably keep score. I’m sure you don’t mean to. You may not even be conscious of it. But there’s a pretty good chance that you do it. You keep score in your marriage. You keep score when you tally up the things you do for your spouse and when you tally up the things…

  • How To Draw Near To The Throne of Grace

    How To Draw Near To The Throne of Grace

    Last week I spent an unexpectedly long time in small-town Alaska—in a town that revolves around commercial fishing. If you’ve seen shows like Deadliest Catch, you’ve seen Amaknak Island which forms part of the sprawling Aleutian chain. You’ve seen the town of Unalaska and its harbor, Dutch Harbor. You’ve seen the fleet that heads into…

  • What the Mightiest Man Could Never Do

    What the Mightiest Man Could Never Do

    Everybody knew the local blacksmith. Everybody knew him because no matter where the townsfolk went, they could hear the sound of his hammer as it beat against the anvil. No matter where they were they could hear the sound of his bellows as it spurred the fire to burn and roar with fresh intensity. Day…

  • What I Miss About Him Most

    Three Years Later: What I Miss Most

    Today marks the third anniversary of the day Nick left us—the third anniversary of the day he arrived in heaven. It has been some time since I’ve paused with fingers on keyboard to collect my thoughts and deliberately think about him, about me, about my family, and about our grief. But the Lord, through the…

  • Living Sorrows and Departed Joys

    Living Sorrows and Departed Joys

    I am worshipping with a congregation that is not my own, a community of Christians on the far side of the planet. Though I am there primarily to learn and to worship, I cannot help but observe one of the members of the church as he sits just in front of me. His wife is…

  • 20 Years of Daily Blogging and Other Miscellania

    20 Years of Daily Blogging and Other Miscellania

    It was twenty years ago this week that I made the decision to try to post something to my blog every day for a year. At that time the site was suffering from a lack of attention. I would write occasional articles and often get positive feedback on them, but I lacked any real commitment…

  • How To Cheapen a Marriage

    Have you ever seen someone get married and you are absolutely certain that it’s not out of love for the other person? Maybe the woman wants access to her husband’s wealth or lifestyle and marriage is the way she can get it. Or maybe the man wants access to his wife’s fame or reputation and…

  • A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Christian

    Let’s suppose that for just one day the Lord chose to make a documentary about you—“A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Christian.” For a single day your every move was recorded and your every word transcribed. For a single day even your thoughts were externalized and written down. A camera crew was beside…