Sometimes I am reticent to invite people over for dinner. I wish I weren't, but I am. This is why: I am tired of people talking about their personal food preferences. Any given day, I can easily list off several friends or acquaintances who are following some sort of individualized diet - weight loss or not. There's the standard vegetarians, vegans, all types of ...

Somewhere in the demanding schedule there must be a place for becoming refreshed in spirit. As important as it is to be recognized for what we do, there must be a time - regularly - for the sweeter experience of being loved just for who we are.

Henri Nouwen confesses: "I'm like many pastors; I commit myself to projects and plans and then wonder how I can get ...

There I sat, scarfing down oily-popcorn, with my eyes bugging open as I starred at the giant screen. Dennis Quaid, playing a secret service agent, was barreling down a Spanish street in a snazzy car as he chased down the bad guys. My adrenaline was pumping, my teeth were chomping, my ears were ringing from the sound effects - and I finally had a smile on my face.

See, ...

It's four o'clock and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has just begun visiting hours as Alice Rouse, a 31-year-old outreach worker for Starlight Ministries of the Emmanuel Gospel Center is buzzed through the doors of the ICU. Today her friend Adam began his 17th birthday by shooting China White, the purest form of heroin, and then stringing himself up in ...

[Deborah] also sang the praises of those who served her well - "My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people" (Judges 5:9) - and she commended Jael at length, calling her "most blessed of tent-dwelling women" (Judges 5:24). A final leadership lesson from Deborah: Acknowledge the efforts of others, rather than pat ...

Imagine you're Jesus on the ministry circuit, age 32. Where will you sleep tonight? What will you eat? Where along the way can you replace your threadbare tunic? What town should you and your crew hit next week, once you're ready to move on from your current locale? And beyond that, since you know your time is coming soon? What is the end going to look like? Will ...

Quick confession: I google myself fairly frequently. I didn't really do this - much - until last summer, when a friend emailed to let me know she had googled me and found that I popped up as an acrostic on some random man's website. That got me wondering what else was out there.

In addition to all the usual suspects - links to the articles I've written, my ...

Should crusaders strive to "stay angry"? It's a bad idea. Someone once said that staying angry is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. If your cause is just, you would still find the energy to fight for it even without anger. You just wouldn't be self-righteous about it. The worst effect of self-righteous anger is the inner damage. ...

As a show of solidarity with my seven-year-old daughter, I recently reread the classic Little House on the Prairie books and Anne of Green Gables. One phenomenon I noticed this time around (probably because I'm in the habit of thinking about church leadership) was that the books' good, churchgoing characters didn't have to choose between churches of various ...