Category: Uncategorized

Grace111218reduced.mp3 Listen on Posterous Here’s a link to the text: http://bible.us/Rev8.6.ESV Here’s a nifty way to understand the letter of Revelation in a big picture: http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swfRevelation on Prezi ...

See the full gallery on Posterous Christmas is about telling stories and sharing traditions. I love hearing the Bride share stories with the Princess as she passes on the traditional sugar cookie baking. It is absolutely beautiful! ...

The picture is from the front page of the Detroit News website. Two shootings, one day, two different parts of the country. The question that I see in my Twitter feed is simple: What’s wrong with the world? The answer to that question is simple too: We live in a sin soaked world that is broken. Does that answer sound trite? It’s not. You see living in a sin soaked world means that we should be surprised when good things and not the bad. We typically think of sin as a simple moral act of doing wrong. Sin goes much deeper though. It corrupts everything it touches. It makes all things broken. Do you notice that we are appalled? Think about it, we live in a world where we are surrounded by brokenness the way a fish lives in water, and yet we are shocked by these kinds of things. I think that’s because we experience the common grace of God on a moment by moment basis....

I am a Daddy of a Princess. She is the apple of my eye. I love her desperately and want more than anything to protect her and keep her from crying. When I look around the world and see the standard of beauty that she is expected to live up to it makes me sick. Below is a great video that gives significant wisdom and insight. If you know a female of the species, you should watch it. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY] ...

In our community at Grace Chapel we are currently studying through the Revelation of John. It’s a fascinating letter that challenges believers to remain faithful and true to the gospel until Jesus returns. A significant piece of the message is that the follower of Jesus will experience suffering. Life will not be all roses and puppies. I have experienced suffering only as a child. My parents divorced when I was nine and that was painful. My grandmother, Mimi, died suddenly in a car accident the summer after my freshman year in college. Those things were hard. Now as an adult, who is a parent, and a pastor, I am learning that the admonitions about suffering in the Scriptures are real. This week God has seen fit to enroll Amy and I into Suffering 099. It’s a remedial course. No credit given. The frustration that comes from the deep seated selfishness that is present within me is ugly. Thankfully we are only dealing with pneumonia. It...

There are few shows that speak to the human condition as regularly and poignantly as Fox Television’s Fringe. The most recent episode, “Wallflower” is a parable on the human need to be known. Spoiler Alert — If you have DVR’ed the episode stop reading and come back. The Fringe team has to investigate mounting murders around Boston. Murders that are apparently being done by an invisible man. They find that there is a man, Eugene, who has a rare genetic disorder that has made him invisible. He has figured out how to take people’s pigment from them so that he can be visible. Eugene had gone through his entire life with nobody seeing him. Could you imagine? Never being seen. Alive, but not seen. We all desire to be seen. Every kid at every sporting event, play, or performance scans the crowd looking for Mom and Dad. They want to be seen. My home reverberates with, “Daddy, watch this. Mommy, watch this.” To be seen is hardwired into us. Why...

This is a recent sermon I gave on Revelation 6. Grace_111120_reduced.mp3 Listen on Posterous ...

It’s crazy when you begin to self reflect. I don’t recommend it. It’s not very much fun. You begin to grab hold of some things that you take for granted or take lightly and find that you need to change. I love change. I love changing other things. I hate changing me. Do you want to hear a confession? I truly enjoy social media. One night I was a Tigers playoff game and bantering back and forth with a number of friends on Twitter. It added to my enjoyment of the game. It was all out “there”. Last night a few of us started talking about Twitter. A comment was made that has stuck like a “splinter in the brain” and brought some of my self reflection full circle. He said, “You guys put so much stuff out there it’s really hard to find what’s valuable.” As a pastor, there is one thing I know, words matter. I desperately want my words to count and to have meaning....

This is an image from an article that just hit my news stream and I am sure that it will begin to pop up in more and more places. It’s one of those that picks up steam. It’s embarrasing and frustrating. It begs a bigger a question… What is the gospel? Scot McKnight has done a great job exploding the Gospel myth that he refers to as “The Plan of Salvation”. The myth is that the Romans Road or the Four Laws are the “Gospel”. News flash: They aren’t. The Gospel is big and broad. It is the all encompassing story that makes sense of all other stories. Pay attention this Advent season. You may just hear the Gospel. ...

See the full gallery on Posterous Part of the traditional hanging of the ornaments in our home includes Amy telling the story of each ornament. The first ornament hung is always the same. It’s hung in honor of my Mimi. Her legacy will always live because her story will always be told. Over the course of the next four weeks we will be telling the story of another. He is the one who would come and culminate all the stories of all the world. His is the greatest story. Do you know it? ...