Before this week ended, I wanted to celebrate an important milestone that some of you heard about on Facebook and in real life while others may have no idea about–The Refuge, the mission center and Christian community I co-pastor, turned 10 last week! We’re a whole decade old! In church planting years, it’s a little […]
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Easter Morning. An empty tomb. Confusion. Hope. What was dead, alive. What was meant for evil, good. What was impossible, possible. Last night I was walking in the parking lot at the grocery store to pick up some Easter goodies and had this thought about Jesus flicker across my heart and I stopped to notice […]
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I originally wrote the post below in 2006 when I didn’t have a blog but The Refuge did. It was almost exactly 10 years ago. It’s a little freaky, the reality that a decade has flown by and in a few weeks The Refuge is celebrating our 10 year anniversary. It’s also a little freaky that 10 […]
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Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. I know people are all over the place on this week. Some love it and it is one of the most important weeks in the church calendars. Others aren’t feeling too holy and are struggling, gearing up for those He is Risen! posts on Easter Sunday that […]
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In conversations about politics, I’ve often told my kids, “If someone tells you that trickle-down economics is a great idea, make sure you remember that it sounds all well and good but the reality is the money and resource rarely trickles down.” Oh, I know some who are reading might be shaking your head right […]
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One of the things I care the most about is creating spaces and places where people can have hard conversations about life and faith. It’s not the easiest task. And to be honest, it’s much simpler to cultivate a safe space for recovery and healing than it is to create a space to hold our […]
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Happy Christmas Eve. I am juggling kids and Refuge this week with no time to write but always come back to the gift of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. It’s one of the deepest spiritual truths that continues to sustain me and was the one thing that I could always rely on during my crazy […]
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Some of you may have already seen this excellent video that points to a recent study that confirms what so many have known intuitively–the root of all addictions is disconnection. It’s really worth the time to watch it and reminds me of what one of my favorite theologian-practictioners in the whole-wide-world, Jean Vanier, has been […]
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This time of year I always think of how much I love the Christmas story. Not the neat and tidy shiny story that often gets told and is depicted on Christmas cards and all kinds of slogans, but the real story that is underneath it. The story of God coming into the world in such a […]
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In the earlier days of my faith, knowing who was and wasn’t a “Christian” was a big deal to me. There was something attached to it that was comforting, familiar, certain. When I look back on those years, “Is he/she a Christian?” would come up in countless ways–related to teachers, doctors, family members, auto mechanics, […]
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