A friend of mine recently told me that he had a conversation with someone online who told him that it was possible to become a child of God. He was very interested in this idea and asked me what I thought about it. I explained that, with the girls that we had adopted, I felt […]
I’m not sure why I hadn’t realized how much of a personal connection that this story would have for my friends. This particular week, we were reading in Mark 4 where Jesus and his disciples, who had already been standing in a boat to teach all of the people that had gathered around, had decided […]
A balanced perspective is necessary to get some things done in Catania.
Facebook has been on fire about Trump’s recent ban on refugees. Some people love the idea of keeping refugees out, especially those from Muslim countries. Some people can’t believe this is happening in America. For those that are appalled by this action, is any of this really that surprising? I mean, come on. As a […]
Pride is one of the most powerful forces in the world. When we come into conflict with one another, pride becomes quickly noticeable within ourselves, even when we don’t want to admit it. We feel that we are justified in our actions, and even if we are having a difficult time coming up with good reasons […]
As someone from the Midwestern part of the United States, this command at first seems counterintuitive to me. One of the things that I think Americans generally, and Midwesterners in particular, deem offensive is someone who is a boasts about themselves, who not only does good things, but then goes on to tell other people […]
The commands of Jesus have a way of reverberating through the centuries, even those that he gave to some fishermen as he was walking along the seashore. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Given other things that Jesus told his disciples to do, including making other […]
Today is our 21st wedding anniversary! This last year has been filled with some amazing joys and some significant challenges for us. I think we would both say that it has, at times, put our resolve for our marriage to the test, but we’re still standing. Somewhat jokingly, we said last night that survival can sometimes […]
At the end of his time on earth, Jesus told the eleven disciples who were left that they were to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded. So that creates a question…what did Jesus command? What was his […]
Recently, a friend of mine decided that he wanted to follow Jesus, but he had a serious roadblock arise in that his only remaining family member, who happened to be the person who raised him since he was a small boy, told him that if he were to decide to follow through with his plans […]