Face the Flinch
A few weeks ago I preached a sermon that continues to generate feedback from listeners. The sermon addressed the seemingly counter-intuitive, paradoxical, even illogical teaching of Jesus about the command to "carry our cross." When Peter first heard these words,...
The Road Goes Ever On and On
A few years ago I hiked the legendary Half Dome in Yosemite National Park for the first time. Adventurists have been making that 17-mile trek for more than one hundred and thirty-five years. The first person on record to make the ascent was George C. Anderson, who...
The End Is Life
Some people, in the face of extreme hardship, or loss, or grief, find comfort in the well-known, often over-used adage that “God never gives us more than we can bear.” Having sat with so many people over the years who have been given more than I could ever imagine...
Have Some Guts
We live in a culture that has come to perceive the misfortune of others as must-see TV. From Judge Judy to Judge Wopner, from Ricki Lake to Jerry Springer, from high-speed car chases on the evening news to the sensationalized funerals of fallen pop icons, our culture...
Father Boyle’s Bike
I recently visited Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles and got to know a few of the homies who work there. Founded by Father Gregory Boyle in 1992, Homeboy Industries provides an empowering alternative to inner city violence for hundreds of former gang members – many of...
Ignore Pedigrees
The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. -- Emily Dickinson Nobody ever told me to hang my diplomas on my office wall. I did it because I thought it mattered. I have eight years of college and post-graduate...