Leading up to this Father’s Day, I’ve been thinking a lot about what does a loving father look like. This past week someone asked me, what does it mean to die to yourself? It was through an email, so I had time to think about my answer. I wanted to spit out the cookie cutter answer that it means to be unselfish, but since I had time, I decided to meditate on that question.
love
God’s Fierce Love
This past Sunday at church, we worshipped to Fierce by Jesus Culture. The chorus is,
Like a tidal wave
Crashing over me
Rushing in to meet me here
Your love is fierce
Like a hurricane
That I can’t escape
Tearing through the atmosphere
Your love is fierce
As we were singing, I began to really think about the words. Hurricanes and tidal waves are such destructive things. Living in North Carolina, I am very aware of people still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. There are still many people in the Caribbean, southern United States, and other areas that are still living with daily reminders of how hurricanes can impact you. [Read more…] about God’s Fierce Love
Feeding the Trolls
I don’t know anyone who actually sits quietly in a theater during the previews. Recently, as my friends and I were at a movie, we were talking about what we thought of the previewed movie. We spent some time making fun of the cheesy movie theatre rules videos. Then as the production logos started to come on the screen (still before the movie had started) the guy in front of us turned around and said, “You guys need to stop talking, the movie is on!!!” At that moment a million things ran through my head of what I should say back to him. I could tell him that his yelling at us was louder than us talking. [Read more…] about Feeding the Trolls
Bring Back Kindness
In 2016 kindness is disappearing in the United States. Everyone in the world is glad that we don’t have to see anymore political ads. In North Carolina those ads have been brutal. Not only did we have to endure all the presidential ones, but we also had very polarizing races for governor and senate among others. I’ve seen at least 2 attack ads per commercial break for at least a month. Add to that all the other stuff that has gone on in 2016 and it seems like we have taken a free pass to throw kindness out the window. [Read more…] about Bring Back Kindness
Love Isn’t Passive
It’s been just over a week since I wrote my last post and there are already more tragedies to add to the list. It seems like there is starting to be a collective “what in the world is going on” going around. Anger is being answered with anger. Violence is being answered with violence. What is the world coming to? It’s getting to the point where I worry that the next time I open Facebook or Twitter I will find out about another tragic event. As I read about all these events, I wonder what it is that I can do to help. Honestly, I don’t really have an answer. [Read more…] about Love Isn’t Passive
A House Divided
The church scene in America is one of the most convoluted messes right now. What is supposed to be a united body spreading the gospel of Jesus has turned into a broken and busted body that is fighting against itself. It seems like every day I am hearing of some new denomination that was formed because some church member got pissed-off and decided they wanted to do things slightly different. You can’t be just Baptist anymore. You have Baptist, free-will Baptist, reformed Baptist, Baptist plus drums, Baptist with women pastors as long as they aren’t head pastors, and more. We have Church of God, Church of God in Christ, and Church of God in Christ covered with the Holy Ghost. There is non-denominational. But are you “we are basically Baptist but wear jeans and play rock music” non-denom or are you “spirit-filled gonna lay hands on you til you fall out” non-denom. I could go on. [Read more…] about A House Divided