When Adam and Eve made that fatal choice to rebel against God and define good and evil on their terms, I imagine that they couldn't have imagined how the world would be forever changed. Broken was their relationship with God. Broken was their relationship with the earth. Broken was their relationship with each other. The … Continue reading A Fallen World →

Have you ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders? Have you ever struggled to find sleep? Have you found yourself a bit quicker to anger, a bit faster to speak, and perhaps a bit slower to listen due to relative sleep deprivation? I think we all have. We have all felt the … Continue reading A Theology of Rest →

Awhile back, I was informed that there was a function that allowed you to find out how Facebook labeled your own political leanings. As far as I can tell, that feature has since been removed, but I remember being relatively surprised when I found out that Facebook labeled me as "strongly conservative". While it's more … Continue reading The Fragile Nature of Political Discussion →

This week at work, I've been spending hours on end looking over papers while listening to music. In some ways, it's incredibly boring. In other ways, I get to listen to music so the time passes faster. I'll call it an overall win. Anyway, the point of that is that I've been listening to plenty … Continue reading The First Time You Know You’re Not Enough →

I wholeheartedly believe that God is sovereign. While pages upon pages could be written to explain what that means (and many denominations have slight nuances in the doctrine), the basic idea is that God is King and Lord. Think of when we call earthly kings "sovereigns". It's just a fancy term for the guy that … Continue reading The Awkward Edge of Sovereignty →

In popular culture, I believe that it used to be common practice to think of high school as your glory days. Many times I can remember people informing me that I should live those days up. I'm not sure why. Nowadays, I think we've hit a cultural shift. Rather than fondly looking at your days … Continue reading Why I Love Youth Ministry →

God, protect me, for I find shelter in your arms. Lord, you are my King, and without you I have nothing good. You are the good in my life. My brothers and sisters in Christ give me joy. But for those who chase after false gods or the idols of this world, they will not … Continue reading Psalm 16- A Paraphrase →

Hey, you! Yeah, you! Christian that is currently dating or seeking to date someone! Take some entirely unsolicited advice about dating from a happily married Christian man! Or, I suppose, don't read this. That works too. But you may at least find this a bit amusing. Jokes aside, Christian dating is weird. Christianity is more … Continue reading Christian Dating →

Lutheran Satire is perhaps one of my favorite Youtube channels out there. The creator, a Lutheran pastor, regularly makes videos that poke fun at heresies, bad church practices, and  popular misconceptions about Jesus. While I don't necessarily agree with him on every point, he definitely has a way with words and his videos are entertaining, … Continue reading The War on Worship…? (Why You Should Be Listening to Andrew Peterson) →

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor asked the congregation to anonymously answer a question on a website, the results of which he would use as a sermon illustration. We were asked, "What is your greatest fear?". I sat for a moment to think about what my answer should be. It wasn't more than a … Continue reading Facing Failure →