When I was in college, I had two ideas of where my life was headed: I was going to go to seminary and become a missionary to teach people about Jesus in some far off country, and I was going to be married to someone I loved and adored, become a dad and grow a family. At the time, if I'm honest, I tried my best to keep those two dreams as far apart from each other as I coul...

In early March I had the opportunity to give a sermon at The Well. It was my first time to preach, and I wanted to speak about something impactful, something that was relevant to young adults with regard to the mindsets we often adopt. I chose to cover Philippians 3:17-21, in which the apostle Paul implored members of the church of Philippi to imitate him and others like h...

Those of us who frequent Christian circles are well versed in trendy go-to coffee cup verses. Psalm 37:4 is one of the trendiest: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." However; like many of our favorite coffee cup verses, this one can be taken out of context to justify a myriad of idols in our lives. We tend to be bent toward lacki...

I'm a father of three daughters. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if I'm afraid to raise three girls; I suppose the sentiment is really attached to raising threeteenagegirls since my daughters (who are 3, 2, and 2 months old) all generally sit still, read books, and don't break things like their male counterparts. Still I can understand why people have such ...

Odds are, most of us will find ourselves in a dating relationship at some point in our lives. As much as that may sound exciting (or terrifying) to us, the reality ishowyou enter into a relationship is just as, if not more, important as how you actually work out that relationship. This is where so, so many of us fall short: we're totally cool with dating someone, we just d...

When? (Part 2 in our series on dating and relationships) "There is so much conflict and confusion over "when the right time" is to date someone. And it makes sense, since so many of us experience dating by stumbling into it. So is there really some kind of line, some kind of initiation moment that tells us now is the time to start pursuing a relationship?" Growing up, I ha...

I spent last week in Ethiopia, intending to adopt our 13-year old son, Danny. It was my plan to bring him home with me and it became evident that this was not the plan of God (yet). In the three months leading up to this disappointment, our family experienced other setbacks, including a broken heel that set me back from going full-speed, and a miscarriage of what we though...

For the seven years before I entered the ministry, I was promoted 4 times at my work. I moved up the ranks from a mid-level manager to an executive at a large corporation. I was AMBITIOUS, constantly striving for the next big thing! Don't get me wrong; I worked hard and had a relationship with the Lord, and did not forsake my family throughout these times, yet looking back...

When James and I got married, I made it very clear that we wouldnotbe joining a community group. We did lots of churchy activities, so I didn't see a particular need for joining a forced group of People Who Meet on Wednesdays to sit around in a circle and yammer about the Bible and our feelings. After all, we had more important things to do, like "focus on our marriage" an...