Jesus' most famous parable in Luke 15 tells the story of a rebellious young man usually dubbed "the Prodigal Son" who demanded his share of his father's inheritance while his dad was still alive, shameful enough, but then went off into "the far country" to squander it on riotous living. A modern-day prodigal and his mother have written their story, telling parallel stories from each one's perspective. The son's "far country" included drug dealing, living it up as a party animal, and gay promiscuity leading to a diagnosis of AIDS. But God brought both mother and son out of the far country to Himself.

Chances are that we’ve all heard our fair share of “awkward Christianese,” and have probably been guilty of it a time or two as well. As a kid I remember talking to one of my peers about Christianity. “I am a Christian,” she proclaimed. I wasn’t so convinced. “How do you define a Christian?” “Well, I am a good person and I am American,” she said. The conversation got a little awkward as I said, “That doesn’t make you a Christian,” and briefly went on to explain why. She listened politely and acknowledged, “I never realized that before. I guess I am not a Christian after all.” She didn’t say anything else.

The Bible sets forth a shocking standard for believers. The normal Christian life should be so filled with humility, sacrifice, boldness, integrity and love that we stand out as outsiders and misfits in the world. Yet, statistically and experientially, we know that most believers fit in quite well into the culture. In an increasingly pagan culture, it is going to be more and more crucial that Christ-followers actually follow Christ in their daily lives. But how do we balance grace with the good deeds of this kind of life?

The Second Commandment states that we are not to make, bow to or serve images created to represent God (i.e., an idol) (Exodus 20:4-6). You may say that you not violated this commandment for you have no images that you worship.  However, recall from Commandment Number Ten(1) that covetousness or greed is a form of idolatry (Colossians 3:5). That is, anything that we desire or value more than the one true God becomes an idol to us! Consequently, this means even good things can become idols if we value them more than God. So, do you have any idols in your life? If You Can't Say Amen, Say Oh Me!

It’s election season in a fallen world and a sagging economy. Our national conversation focuses on discouraging statistics, economic and cultural decline. There’s quite a chorus of voices and images out there railing at the darkness. As followers of Jesus should we join them? What are we prepared to do?

I am currently at the International Consultation for Theological Educators in Karen, Kenya (just outside of Nairobi). It is a meeting that takes place very three years for educators from around the world. 57 countries are represented with 220 delegates. The theme is: Rooted in the Word, Engaged in the World.

Someone recently asked me in an email if Israel existed at the time of Jesus. This is a very interesting question because the answer is, technically... no. Since I wasn't sure why this person was asking it seemed that a brief history and explanation was in order. I thought this might make an interesting post here since my experience is that many people don't really understand the flow of Israel's history very well. It is important in that it helps put scripture in perspective to grasp the bigger picture of history. To that end, here's a simplified account...

The Law of the Teacher

A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40).

            In Luke 6, Jesus gave this message on the plain, after He selected his inner circle of twelve disciples. The “class” convened, it was time for the first “lecture”. But the disciples were not given the luxury of merely listening to lectures and smiling sagely back at their master; Christ had higher expectations for them: their complete transformation. The students would one day be teachers themselves; teachers who served the Great Teacher.

            The call to teaching was not limited to the disciples. Nor is it limited to a few individuals in each church. Did you know Scripture teaches that all believers are to be teachers? The author of Hebrews laments in Hebrews 5:12, saying the believers “should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances.” Paul adds in Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace”. If you are a mature Christian, you are called to instruct others in the faith. You are to seek out and teach other believers, so that they may grow in the faith.

As the world focuses on goblins, witches, death, and cemeteries, we find in the Word a lesson for the season…. 

Double, double, Saul in trouble/Flew to Endor on the double. 

Do you ever awaken with a sense of heaviness as you face the day? Various circumstances coincided for me recently and this became my experience. As I was asking God for wisdom, I viewed an excellent video discussion with Dr. Dallas Willard. Dr. Willard described how before rising from bed he mentally reviews “The Lords Prayer” or the 23rd Psalm, slowly and prayerfully.

"Stupid is as stupid does." --- Forest Gump.

Short version: Priests get secularized. The people follow. For details, read on...

My first ministry failure came when I was asked to lead a small group in a parachurch women's Bible study. I had only been a believer about three years, but I was on fire for Jesus and eager to serve Him. I was determined to be the best small group leader in the entire study, even though I had not learned to depend on the Lord and was still operating out of my own strength.

I just found out my original post did not post. So here is the original post. Our Church is in a season where tithing is down and our budgets are being shrunk. It’s the time of the year where families are spending a ton of money on school needs and kid’s extracurricular activities and just life.Considering that we are dealing with this situation right now I thought it would be cool to help people understand a little more about the value of church from a very secular monetary point of view and hopefully open their eyes to what they are getting each Sunday morning for absolutely no cost to them. The value in my opinion is tremendous…In fact it’s ridiculously awesome!

What is your greatest struggle as a woman? Would you name envy, anger, lust, selfishness, dishonesty, greed, or pride—things that God names as sins? Do you even think much about such attitudes? Or do you rank organization and efficiency as more important qualities to have? Does God put productivity as a top ten character trait?

American adults receive 16,000 sensory images per day.

 In the year 2000 – it was estimated that: a new web site was created every 2 seconds; new products every 30 minutes; and world’s knowledge doubled every 18 months…no doubt these statistics have escalated in the last 12 years.

Christians over the years have learned that certain practices (daily devotionals, dedicated prayer, giving, etc.) help to keep the heart turned toward God. These are often called ‘spiritual disciplines’. Such disciplines may heighten your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s work in conforming your inner and outer self to look more like Jesus.

A number of articles are available advising Christians to have nothing to do with Halloween. And I do agree that Christians have no business celebrating a holiday that glorifies something that delights the enemy of our souls. And potentially opens us up to demonic harrassment, to boot!

But if we've got kids, especially kids in public school or who hang around other kids in the neighborhood, it's entirely possible that parents can feel pressured to do something about Halloween. After all, it's pretty hard to hide under a rock for the whole month of October. A number of houses on our street are more decorated for Halloween than for Christmas!

It’s easy to google for fall outreach ideas for ministering to children, but it is not nearly as easy to find ways to encourage children to reach out to others. While it is important for us to model outreach to the children in our lives, it is essential that we teach them how to serve. We must not communicate the idea that ministry is for adults only.

Earlier today, the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to British and Japanese scientists John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka. The men's work found that adult cells can be returned to their stem cell state, a discovery that undercuts the utilitarian embryonic stem cell research and use (a little poetic that the prize was awarded during this year's "40 Days for Life".)

If there is one thing we are learning from Election 2012, it’s that even the “smartest guys in the room” are agonizing over how much to focus their message on empathy or reasoning. Likeability or a robust contention for facts and evidence. In this week’s debate President Obama opted to forego answering Gov. Romney’s questions about his record. Postmodern conventional wisdom tells us that if we want to win others to our point of view we do it with empathy and likeability more than evidence and facts. If you argue the facts, appeal to reason, you can seem angry and unlikable. So appeal to emotions more than reason. Just be nice.

The resounding “thud” of conventional wisdom falling flat was heard from the debate hall to the Twitterverse. Is there a lesson for us as we try to win a hearing for the gospel?

Personal Note: It has been a while since my last post. A great deal has been going on, but rest assured I have not forgotten the readership here and for those interested I do plan to continue this study of the minor prophets. What follows is the next installment in the Hosea series...

Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets.” Luke 5:5

Part two...

“Sometimes you have to let go of the good to do the great.” Mary Demuth

I heard these words at a Christian writer’s conference this past week where one of the speakers delivered them to a group of 100 or so...but I knew they were for me.  As a chronic “yes” person who thrives on helping and serving, I knew that God was telling me it is time to focus. As I relay these words to you, no doubt there is at least one person who will say, “These words are for me!” 

When I was in college, I feared that giving my life totally to the Lord meant He would probably send me to Africa….

Recently I was moved by an unlikely devotional passage – the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In our hyper-tolerant culture, it’s undoubtedly one of those portions of Scripture that has compelled some to classify the Bible as hate literature. But I see a glimpse of God in all his multi-faceted glory, flickers of the very brilliance he would disclose to Moses on Sinai centuries later.

            Bare Feet. Playskool Tricycles. When the two come together in a church nursery, there is much pain!
            This time, I was smart enough to see the impending peril. Adam (not his real name) was not. A typical toddler, he had flaunted his independence by removing his socks and shoes to celebrate barefooted freedom!
            But I had the audacity to gather his footwear and propose re-shoding his feet. I then picked up the protesting tyke and set him on my lap. A defiant glare was in his eyes as he protested, loudly. “I don’t want my shoes!”
            “Well, have you asked your shoes if they want to be on your feet?” I replied.

Do you think of yourself as a smart person? I bet many of you don't. You have preconceived views about what it means to be smart and most of you don't think you qualify. Well, I have good news. You are probably smart and you just don't know it!

This weekend my church will be holding its semi-annual Baby Dedication ceremony during the morning worship service. It’s a wonderful time for those dedicating parents to show off their beautifully or handsomely decorated babies to the congregation and celebrate what God has blessed them with.

“Oh, that seat is saved.” I cringe every time I hear those words. My heart hurts as I watch a lonely woman’s face betray her surprise. It stinks when there’s no room at the table.