life. faithful.

 “Christians today hold firmly to the 11th Commandment, and the 11th Commandment is, 'Thou Shalt Be Nice,' and we don’t hold to the other ten.” ~Vodie Baucham I have to admit, I've spent a lot of my life focused on that non-existent  11th commandment. It's changed a bit in this second half of my life, the half after everything got flipped upside down. I don't focus quite as much on being nice despite the consequences, though I still hesitate to speak up with the truth if I know it's going to hurt somebody's feelings. The world today, though, doesn't need "nice" Christians. The world has enough "nice" people who validate every feeling and whim, people who go along with anything and everything, who think that the way to best help people is to confirm their every desire. What the world needs right now is followers of Christ who will stand up like He did, followers who will point out sin when needed so that people can be saved from it, ...

To my kids: It's that time again--back to school. Seeing as how I've spent pretty much my whole life in school, I know the feelings well: a strange mix of excitement and nerves and fear and all of it ties your brain and your stomach up in knots. I'm teaching again this fall after 3 years away from the classroom, and I know that even though I've faced a new semester 58 times before (believe me, I counted), I'll still have butterflies in my stomach when I walk into a new classroom for the 59th semester. I know you get tired of me giving you advice, but I also know that you realize it won't ever stop... so I'm going to take that as an open invitation ;) First, embrace discomfort this year. The world teaches us to chase after comfort, but that's not what's best for you. You don't do much growing when you're comfortable--mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Mental comfort keeps you from learning new things. It keeps you in a place wh...

Here in our little corner of the world, it usually seems a bit like paradise. We're tucked into the hills and the woods, and you can't look out without noticing God's beauty. Right now, though, sometimes it's hard to see the beauty. Like right now--we haven't had rain in about a month, and the ground is so dry that it is cracking.  The small creek that runs through our property is the lowest I've seen it in all the time we've lived here.  This time of the year is normally hot (typically with highs in the mid to upper 80s), but this year we've had highs in the mid to upper 90s. Our cows are never still, roaming over every inch of of property looking for grass. It's so dry that we had to feed hay this week, in the first week of July, and that was only because a neighbor told us he could spare two bales--no more because he doesn't know when he will have to start feeding his own cows.  Our driveway is nothing but powder. When we drive down our dirt ...

When my daughter was about 3, she would have told you, without hesitation, that she wasn't a little girl--she was a puppy. She would be a puppy at the grocery store , much to my embarrassment. She was committed, let me tell you. There was more than once that we had to get onto her for licking somebody or for barking in response to a question she was asked, or to tell her to get up off the floor and walk on her feet instead of crawling on all fours. Why do I bring that up? Because we have somehow decided that kids are capable of making life-altering decisions when they are at an age when it used to be considered completely developmentally normal for them to pretend to be any number of things, from a puppy to a train. What has never been normal, though, is to tell a child that they actually are whatever they are pretending to be. Now, though, we're supposed to go along with whatever someone is pretending to be.  We've come to a point in our society where it has somehow be...

Our kids are under attack, and it seems like we're just going along with it. I don't mean from violence like the recent school shooting that devastated a community and has left so many families reeling. Things like that are obvious, and we have no issue taking a stand against them. We may not know exactly what we need to do, but we all agree that it is something we can't tolerate. What I'm talking about is something more subtle. What I'm talking about is a battle for the souls of our children, and it's a battle the enemy seems to be fighting with no resistance from those of us who are supposed to the protectors. When was the last time you watched something that promoted traditional, Christian values? Something that didn't show "alternative" lifestyles or people hopping into bed with each other as things that are totally normal and acceptable? Or maybe the more important question, when was the last time you stopped watching a tv show or movie with y...

  May this Memorial Day serve as a time to renew your dedication to the restoration of our nation as the beacon of hope it used to be to the rest of the world. May we all dedicate ourselves to living lives that honor those who gave their lives to defend and preserve our nation. Stand for truth, refuse to cower, honor equality over equity, value justice, and remember our rights are from God, not men. "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

 I wish I had more than words to offer. I wish I could somehow take the pain of families in the midst of unbelievable agony right now, that I could somehow offer them hope and comfort. More than anything, I wish I could give those parents back their babies and bring back the heroic teachers who tried to shield their students. This world is broken, and sometimes it's made painfully obvious by people who do unspeakable evil. In these moments, everyone is searching for answers. Everyone wants to figure out something to do, something that will somehow stop the hurting. We try to find meaning in the unimaginable, try to make sense of an atrocious act. Can I offer some advice? If you know these families--or anyone facing grief--you don't have to offer answers. You don't have to come up with reasons. You don't have to try to find the silver lining or the lesson to be learned. Don't turn their tragedy into a talking point or something political. Instead, just sit with them ...