When Good Friday Doesn’t Feel Very Good
Easter was pretty atypical for us this year. In fact, it was very difficult. Chris and I found ourselves flying over the Atlantic on Good Friday, in preparation for our beloved sister-in-law’s funeral on Easter Monday, the day after Easter. Those days of what many of...
3 Tips to Make 2016 the Best Year Ever!
In May of 2001 I attended a Muslim-Christian dialogue conference in Baghdad hosted by none other than Saddam Hussein. About 5000 delegates from all different kinds of religious backgrounds, from all over the world. Mandaeans (followers of John the Baptist)....
People You Ought to Consider Supporting
Like you, Chris and I scramble at the end of the year asking the question, “Who should we send a year-end gift to?” It’s sort of a weird tradition. I mean, it all counts the same in both God’s eyes and in the eyes of the IRS - whenever you give. But somehow we sort of...
Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?
You might think such a question should be simple. Yes. No. But answers about God and his nature have never been able to fit on the bumper of a car. The Bible is full of of descriptive passages as to God’s character, often using anthropomorphisms to describe him. We...
When You Don’t Know What To Do
It was the evening of November 12th. Sitting with my dear friend Samir at his home in Saudi Arabia, I got a text from our daughter Anna who lives in Beirut: Don’t worry. I’m ok. “Why would she say that,” I asked Samir. He turned on the TV and called his wife in...
The Bible: Is It Really That Complex?
Here is an essay introduction I wrote to the book of II Thessalonians for the recently released Jesus Centered Bible. **** First, a confession... I have no idea what "the man of lawlessness" referenced in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is all about. This mysterious phrase is...
What Have We Handcuffed to Jesus?
I like all my books. Really I do. Periodically, someone will ask me what book that I've written is my favorite. And, it is kind of like asking which of my kids is my favorite. After all, each was birthed through a fairly intense labor process (writing doesn't come...
How Do We Really “Spread the Good News”?
Here is an essay introduction I wrote to the book of I Thessalonians for the recently released Jesus Centered Bible. **** Jesus in I Thessalonians More than I’ve seen in my lifetime, people in the church are divided over how we should most effectively spread the...
Jesus and Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophets
Charles Spurgeon, speaking to a young pastor, once said: “Don’t you know, young man, that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? And so from every text in Scripture there is a road to the...
Israel: A Homeland for All Jews?
Brian Newman is a good friend. I know him. I trust him. He’s 100% Jewish and yet believes that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Messiah that many Jews are still waiting for. He doesn’t think of himself as “Christian.” He’s Jewish. Brian’s heart is to communicate in a...
