Homeward Bound

When I started blogging, my second  post was addressing many Christians' gut reactions to the refugee crisis. To me, the fears of many in the church regarding the admittance of immigrants (and refugees in particular) screamed self-protection and a "get off my lawn" rhetoric that felt straightforwardly contradictory to much of Christianity. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. To turn the other cheek. To die to self: which includes laying down even our own safety to follow after Jesus Christ. So why are we caring so much about ourselves? But recent developments (as in Trump's temporary ban of refugees from seven Islamic countries) have blown up my facebook feed. I have seen some Christians, most in fact, who have bemoaned the executive order. How is this loving our neighbor? How is turning away families from war torn countries loving justice, seeking mercy, and walking humbly with our God? These people have eternal souls. In most cases they have lost everything...

As a general rule I like to avoid politics on my blog, but today I made an exception. Martin Luther once said that human nature is like a man who fell off his horse on the right side; and upon getting back on the horse he then proceeded to fall off again on the left. This might better be known as overcorrection or over-compensation. We mess up "big time" on one extreme and then violently turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction while confirming the same destructive result in the process. Human nature tends to extremes. The problem with overcorrecting is that: In both situations you fall off your horse. And this is the mistake many Conservative Republicans are about to make with Donald Trump. I am as tired as anyone with post modern America's love affair with this "tolerance" nonsense. Millennials (my generation) in particular have grown into a generation of hyper-sensitive toddlers who cry whenever anyone opposes our fo...

In a transient world, we chase the permanent. A craving for lasting significance is rooted in every human's heart. We know we will not be here long, so we desire to leave a legacy. We want to be remembered. Which is why I was surprised by the statement Abby Wambach made upon retiring. Wambach retired just a few days ago, and in the recently released Gatorade advertisement (watch here ), the former women's soccer star said: "Forget me."  Not the usual: "cherish the golden moments," or "remember the heights I took us." Simply "Forget me."    To me and my culture's ears this sounds strange, and rightly so. "Forget me" goes against the self preserving fiber of our beings. We know all too well those former athletes that incessantly harken back to the "good ole' days" when they "changed the game." Worn down ex-players and celebrities, like broken records, re...

Guns. Guns for everyone or no guns at all? This is the hot button issue at the moment and I see Christians on both sides of the fence. The increasingly frequent mass shootings continue to fan the flames of political debate, but have taken me down a different strand of thinking: Christian civic responsibility vs. Christian suffering. As Christians we are to be lovers of justice. We are to stand up for the weak and the needy. Micah 6:8 could not say it more succinctly: "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Jesus says in Matthew 22:39 that after loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind--the greatest commandment is--to "Love your neighbor as yourself." This sets the stage for what I will call Christian civic responsibility. As Christians we are called to look after our neighbor, and to not look the other way when ...

I have a cousin who is a about 16 months old. She is a spirited one, and her personality and spunk is growing by the day. She is what you would call a toddler. Toddlers are a lot of fun. They are bundles of energy that are discovering the world and learning to talk. They also want to touch stoves, fireplaces and everything that is not in their best interest to touch. And when the toddler is not allowed access to the object of their desire--the toddler cries. It is not wrong that they cry, it is just what toddlers do. There is a problem, however, if the toddler stays a toddler; if the kid never grows up.  Temperamental children are cute at 16 months. 20 year olds in diapers are not so cute. Modern America has raised a generation (my generation) of toddlers. A generation where everyone is in a state of hyper sensitivity towards anything that threatens their toys. Speak against my "sexuality" and you are mocked as a ...

I want to begin by saying that Black Friday is not evil. It is a legitimate time for good deals and good deals are most definitely a good thing. I have gone Black Friday shopping before--maybe I'll go later today. I will say however that what we spend our time doing tells a lot about us. What we spend our money on tells a lot about us. What we stand in line for hours tells a lot about what we value. Our actions will always eventually reveal our hearts. So when I see the annual "pilgrimage" to malls and retailers every year known as Black Friday--where thousands of people stand in line, wait overnight, scour every row and aisle for the latest deal--I think it is revealing about what our culture values: stuff. We love stuff in America. We have so much of it that I do not even think we realize how much stuff we have. Sometimes it takes a trip outside the comfortable walls of our homes or even our country to recognize that: "man, we reall...

I want to begin this short post by saying that I am not talking about how government should handle the refugee crisis. I believe that it is a noble government’s responsibility to look after the security of its citizens first and foremost. As this situation is almost unparalleled in recent history—there are no easy answers from a political perspective. What I am talking about below is how the Christian individual should respond to the approximately 3 million souls expelled from their homeland. A true Christian is a Christian first before he is anything else.   A Christian can be an American and love his country tremendously, even give his life for his country (as many have)-- But he is a Christian before he is an American. His identity is in Christ; not in his citizenship, career, nationality, or anything else. This is fundamental to what we believe. If this is true, then I am surprised by the response of many American Christians regarding the current refugee crisis. I see a ...