A couple years ago family rode took a bike ride on the Route of the Hiawatha Trail along the Idaho-Montana state line. The bike ride begins and ends with a 1.661 mile long tunnel. There is a long stretch of that tunnel where you can’t see either end. You can’t see where you entered, and…
Have Certain Spiritual Gifts Ceased?
I was recently out with a group of people doing some door to door evangelism, and we had a conversation with a woman who asked about our stance on the gift of tongues. My evangelism partner shared how he believes that the gift of tongues ceased along with certain other gifts when the apostles completed writing the new testament. I ended up sharing how I believe the gift of tongues is still available today, and how I have personally experienced that gift being exercised in a disciplined and biblical manner. We ended up having a good discussion around how this is not a salvation issue and how we can disagree on peripheral issues and still worship together with love and grace.
God’s In Your Head!!!
It’s a common gag in tv shows to have a scene where someone is doing something naughty while they are alone, then all of a sudden one of their family members barges into the room unexpectedly and catches them in the act. Then the person that is doing the naughty thing scrambles to hide what…
Grow Up Already! – Thoughts on Spiritual Maturity
Sometimes I feel like I just can’t wait until I grow up spiritually, and have it all together. I feel like I did as a kid in my early teens, when I couldn’t wait to be an adult and be in control of my own life. I would have a good job, my own house,…
Who Turned Off The Light?
We are all inclined to wander. We are all prone to move towards darkness. It can happen suddenly, or it can happen gradually; it can be a conscious decision, or it can be a subconscious decision. When it occurs — when we notice that we have slipped back into the darkness our flesh is so drawn to, we sometimes…
Where’s My Burning Bush?
I often find myself wishing that God would just tell me, in a clear and unmistakeable way, exactly what it is He wants me to do. I read about people throughout the Bible who hear the audible voice of God, or have a vision, or talk to a burning bush, and God gives them some…
Belly Worship
Lately God has been making me more and more aware of how easily I tend to fall into a routine in my life where I spend the vast majority of my day feeding my fleshly appetites and little to no time strengthening my spiritual life. We live in a culture that is saturated with easily accessible fuel…
What is your Focus?
This week at church, the pastor taught on Philippians 3:1-3. In verses 2 & 3 Paul lays out a contrast to help us recognize the difference between having a relationship with Jesus that is focus on yourself, and having a relationship that is focused on Jesus. Here are the notes I jotted down from the…
Like Father, Like Son
A few days ago, we were going out to buy a pie for my 11 year old sons birthday. On our way there, my younger son, Micah, asked me what my favorite pie was. I told him that my favorite pie was Boston cream pie. A day or two later, the boys were eating some…
Jesus Would Go to a Gay Bar
I recently attended a New Breed event where we discussed biblical, missional, radical church planting. Even though everyone in the room were Christians that are feeling the call of God to plant new churches (or at least to be used by God to help spread the gospel) I still think many of the attendees were…