It’s too early to be blogging about Advent. I know what you’re thinking. Well, ok, I know what you might be thinking. Either a: “what is Advent?” or b: “too early? It’s half over already!” This is my first time giving Advent a try, so I’m kind of fumbling my way through here. I had no plans to observe it coming into the season, but some friends from church invited me to join them for a study and I said yes. I think most of us in the group have never done this before; it’s not a very Baptist thing to do. Advent is the time Christians long ago set aside…

Happy December! I have a long overdue ETS 2014 recap for you. This year the annual meeting was held in San Diego—and by coincidence my wife Jenny decided this was the year she should tag along and see what all the fuss is about. The weather was gorgeous, and I never really got why people are so crazy about palm trees until now. I’m ready to call SoCal home. My habit at annual meetings is to have everything scheduled out, then chuck the schedule when opportunities for personal meetings arise. This year I was a little more careful to try to get more from the presentations since this was an…

I’m not a sci-fi fanboy by any stretch, but I love a good story and I don’t hesitate to admit that includes lots of science fiction. Right now my wife and I are almost done with Stargate SG-1, which has lots of religious themes tied in. At this point in the story, the enemy is an advanced race of people claiming to be gods and demanding worship. They have great demonstrations of power, a book of origins, promises of blessings for believers and destruction for unbelievers. Hits a little close to home sometimes. Why do we worship God? Is it because we don’t want to get smoted? Is it because of His…

Sorry for disappearing again. My site host was hit with some malicious code (again) so I haven’t been able to write like I’ve wanted to. But to be honest, I struggle to write even when it is working. My desire is to get away from a personal blog where I just journal in public and move to something professional and useful. Unfortunately that’s when my perfectionism steps in and chokes out any work I might do. I’m confessing this in the hope that writing anything will be a step forward. I have no shortage of things to share, believe me. I think I just need to post a lot and be…

Lots of people have asked me lately if I feel called to be a pastor (or professor, or fill in the blank) and I never have a good answer. I open my mouth and words start falling out and things get really awkward. I’ve been wrestling with what God wants me to do ever since I started seminary. I felt “the call” to full time ministry in college, but it didn’t come with instructions. I just knew if I devoted my life to anything less than the cause of Christ, it would be empty. All going to seminary did for that clarity is give me more options—including the realization that…