“No,” she pulls a blanket up over her head. I know you want to hide, I want to say. Confession makes us feel naked even with all of the weight of hiding on top of us. I know where she is, but I ask for her to show herself anyway. Coming face to face with the one you’re confessing to is important. I know it from the garden. I know it in my bones. Her six-year-old voice whimpers below the Anna and Elsa blanket. “You’ll be mad at me.”

This is isn't a post about how I have the perfect formula to manage a busy life in seminary, or how I have this figured out. This is just a post to encourage fellow family men in seminary with full plates.

A year into church planting: it's hard and it's wonderful. And I don't want to be doing anything else.

Grace doesn’t just usher us into the presence of God to leave us on our own. 

Go to the source. Go into the dark of things you don’t know. Watch how the stars shine.

It's wonderful to feel the joy and thrill of God's Presence that comes through ministry. But we don't live in a church service or Christian environment 24-7. And neither could we.

What is it really like on the mission field? What is it that a missionary actually does (or should do) on the mission field? Sometimes we have a mistaken idea of missionary life. We might think missionary families are surrounded by wild animals or are in danger from hostile tribes. This is not usually the […]

I tell you all of this to offer a simple plea in these strange times: give your pastor grace.

Life in the local church offers nourishment, protection, and growth—all things that the shepherd needs as much as the sheep.