hospitality principles and tips, by an amateur

Admittedly, I’m no expert on hospitality.  But, even being the novice that I am, I’ve gleaned some insights over the years that may be helpful for some.
Plus, if hospitality is something you’ve neglected, the holiday season is a great time to dive in and make practicing hospitality a regular occurrence in every season.
And, if nothing [...]

pregnancy after miscarriage

It’s not an easy topic for me.
But it is what I’m living with day after day.  And in my naivete I thought it would be easier.
Not that being pregnant now isn’t a blessing.  Not that it isn’t exciting and wonderful and anticipatory.  It is.  And I thank God for it.
But it’s also scarier.  Like the [...]

two things: one year of blogging and healthcare reform

I’ve now been blogging for over a year.
Wowser.  I started in mid-November last year and have blogged an average of three times per week.  That seems like a lot to me.  Of course, when I started I posted frequently– four or five times a week; now I’m doing well if I get two in.
I’ve enjoyed [...]

sin produces death through what is good

Paul says a lot of wonderful and nuanced things in Romans 7.
For instance, he says, “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.”  So the law is not sin-producing, but rather, sin-alerting.  And sin, being very sneaky and conniving, seizes “an opportunity through the commandment” to produce all kinds [...]

all of life is waiting

Isn’t it true?
I’m hard-pressed to think of a time when I’m not waiting for something.
Some things take a long time to wait for, other things are short waits.  And there are even things we wait for that never happen.  Sometimes we wait for things and we don’t know what they are.
We wait for vacation time, [...]

grace on difficult days

Everybody has rough days.  Hard days.  Painful days.  Difficult days.
It’s one of the things every human has in common, isn’t it?  It’s easy to become myopic on these days.
Lately I’ve been trying to recognize what God’s grace looks like in my life on these difficult days.  Intellectually I know that God’s grace may very well [...]

“..abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of.” -Dr. Alveda King

CNS News reports that, “Abortion kills more black Americans than the seven leading causes of death combined, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2005, the latest year for which the abortion numbers are available.”
And so, the spirit of Margaret Sanger lives on in Planned Parenthood.
Sanger, an ardent eugenicist and founder of Planned [...]

What kind of evangelical are you? Or, what do you do for Halloween?

Russel D. Moore provides these funny (and accurate) definitions of the many types of evangelical:
“If John Mark is right that an evangelical is “a fundamentalist who watches The Office,” then I’m written out of the definition since I’ve never seen the show. But, still, I think he’s on to something. Here’s an alternative try.
An evangelical [...]

a good day to honor 30 years of serious pastoring

I couldn’t be more thankful for the serious (see post below) preaching and pastoring of Pastor John Piper.
Don’t miss this wonderful telling of the story by Justin Taylor of how Pastor John went from professor to pastor.
It’s worth clicking over just to see the cross-bling picture.
I’m thankful to the Lord for the way His Word [...]

5 minutes of absolute ackwardness

Justin Taylor offers analysis on the inappropriate audience laughter during Pastor John’s message at a Christian counselor’s conference.
If you feel like being very uncomfortable, listen to the first 5 minutes of this sermon.
As Pastor John delivers a gut-wrenching opening to his sermon, the audience inexplicably roars in laughter at the most unbelievable moments.  Greg Gilbert [...]