Balaam’s story unfolds while Israel is making its way toward the border of the Promised Land. The nations around them are terrified. This ragtag...
The Error of Balaam
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Sabbath Thoughts
These posts are the heart and soul of the blog—food for though on God’s Sabbath day.
The Way of Cain
Cain’s story isn’t an obscure one (Genesis 4:1-15). You’re probably already pretty familiar with it, but let’s do a real quick recap and highlight...
Rending the Heart
Everybody thinks they know how to fix it. Just get enough of their guys making the decisions, enough of their rules being enforced, and things would...
Cain, Balaam, and Korah
I want to take a look at a single verse in the book of Jude. But first, we need to set the scene with some context. We don't go to the book of Jude...
Another 3 Lessons From 10 Awesome Years of Marriage
Last Friday was our tenth anniversary. Ten. Years. Three thousand six hundred fifty-two days since we said, "I do." A lot has changed in those 3,652...
Growth Happens in the Secret Places
We forget that, sometimes. It's easy to think of growth as visible, obvious, easy to point to and say, "There it is." But it's not. We see the...
Till We Can See the Sun
Before we say goodnight to Prim, Mary and I take turns every evening to sit beside her and have "chat time." For about 10 minutes, one of us hangs...
Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver
James doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about the tongue. He focuses on its destructive capabilities, calling it "a fire, a world of...
Written on Your Doorposts
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your...
The Secret Is Showing Up
People talk a lot about "being your best self" and "doing your best work." Those are, in a lot of ways, ideas I can get behind. Solomon said,...
The Overview Effect
I watched a video of a dad sobbing as he said goodbye to his young daughter and wife as they boarded a bus. They were leaving; he was staying...
Growing Up Is Hard Work
Growing up is hard work. I mean that in the metaphorical sense, but also in the very real, very literal sense. You began your existence as a single...
The Time That Matters
Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, and it turns out that that Bible gives short shrift to most of those years....
(Spiritually) Sunk
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the things we have are worth what we paid for them. They're not. They're worth what they can do for...
A Long Story About a Middle Name
Two weeks ago, I woke up angry with God. I wasn't proud of it. I didn't want to be angry. But I was. I propped myself up on an elbow and looked...
“For God Still Loves the World”
I saw that phrase on the December 2020 cover of Christianity Today. A giant, cosmic hand reaches out toward a world wrapped in darkness, drifting...
2021 Doesn’t Care What You Want
This is the last Sabbath Thought I'll post in 2020. Do you know what that means? …Very little, actually. It's easy to make a big deal about that...
The Secret to a Pure Language
I love words. That's a good thing for a writer to be able to say, but what I mean is, I love what you can do with words. Here's an example. If I...