Tag: Grace

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

The Story of Salvation

About 10 years ago, I was not the person you see standing before you today. Not only was I a little larger and had more hair, but I was also someone who was hurting. I was going through a period of my life that could easily be defined as my lowest point.

The year was 2004, I was living in North Carolina, and my life was falling apart very quickly. In January, a home my first wife and I had in West Virginia was damaged during a winter storm when the water pipes burst creating a hockey rink out of the carpet. Afterwards, we received some bad advice that prevented us from getting any relief out of the situation. In March, my first wife left me with a phone call and a note on the refrigerator door. It ended a bad relationship that was defined more by our inability to communicate than by our love for one another. By October, I was sitting with my attorney in a federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., describing my financial situation and why I was filing bankruptcy.

It was an awful year and I had more problems and pains than I could account for. To be honest, I needed help and knew I needed to do something to get through this season of life. So, I tried to get help by throwing myself into anything I could. I found a West Virginia University Alumni chapter that became a place of Saturday afternoon refuge from what was going on at home. I threw all my energy into a political campaign I was working on. I thought if we won, which we did, that I would feel better. No matter what I tried what often happened was that I only compounded the pain. I made it worst. I was still hurting. I could not save myself. Continue reading “The Story of Salvation”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life

Compassion for All

I have a lifelong fascination with the news. Even as a young child when my friends were watching cartoons, I was watching the local news, CNN, or Peter Jennings. I had a thirst for understanding the world and learning about what was taking place whether it was in the United States or around the world.

To this day, I still have this fascination with the news and understanding what is going on in our world. My Twitter feed is full of news feeds from major media outlets and I still would rather watch the news than some of the other things we find on television. Abbi will tell you that I am always looking for a reason to turn it on the news.

Recently though, especially over the last 17-and-a-half months, I have found that I am less aware of what is going on in the world than I would prefer. Being a parent has taken my focus away from keeping up on the day’s events and onto other things of importance. I find that I am more aware about the various issues plaguing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse than I am about what is going on across our world. Continue reading “Compassion for All”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon, United Methodist Church

Seeing the Kingdom Grow

One of my worst faults is that I am my own worst critic. A long time ago I believed that this was an admirable quality because it made me perfect the things I was working on, whether it was a school assignment, a newspaper report, or some other project.

Now while it is appropriate to strive for excellence in what we set out to do, I have come to realize over the years that being my own worst critic was of a different sort. The reason for this is that I struggled with seeing worth and significance in myself.

For the longest time this is what I felt others told me. That I was not good enough or that I did not matter. My classmates in school, for the most part, treated me as if I did not exist. My colleagues often expressed to me that because I was educated in West Virginia that I did not have the proper credentials to succeed in journalism or the public policy field. As well, the people I loved have refused to return that love, whether it was a step-father who neglected and abused me, an ex-wife who walked away from our marriage, or friends who were not there when I needed them. Continue reading “Seeing the Kingdom Grow”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Laying Down Our Burdens

I think it has dawn on me with this most recent move that our family owns a small library of books. At the same time, I think most of our boxes were nothing but books, whether they were Abbi’s, Noah’s, or my own. Each box had its own collection within them. Books from various fiction authors. Books about the presidents. Books about books in the Bible. Books about Curious George. Books that, to be honest, I don’t think we have even started reading.

Each of these books were placed into boxes of various sizes. The worst of these boxes were these egg crate boxes that were two boxes merged into one. At first, I thought this was a great concept. I could fit more books into the boxes and reduce the number of boxes we would need. I thought this until I had to pick up a filled box. These egg crate boxes were among the heaviest we had, because they were overloaded with books that made it difficult to carry. Continue reading “Laying Down Our Burdens”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

We Are Easter People: Living Holy Lives

One of my favorite Scripture passages can be found in Luke 18:9-14.

There we see the story of  two people who went to the Temple to pray. One of the people praying was a Pharisee while the other was a tax collector. What I like about this passage is that it is one of those stories that reflects on who we often are and who we want to be.

Jesus recounts the Pharisee’s prayer first. He looks around and prays that he is glad he is not like any of the other people who were around. The tax collector then prays. He prays for God to simply forgive him. Jesus doesn’t offer commentary on the two prayers, but allows the contrast to speak for itself.

I mention this story, because I believe it highlights how we often relate to our new life in Christ and the Good News of the resurrection. We know God has given us a new life through faith in Christ, but sometimes we respond to this new life by looking out into the world and being thankful we are not like some of the others. Thankful that we have it all together. Thankful that we aren’t like those who struggle. Much like the Pharisee, it is an attitude where we consider ourselves as “holier” than others because of this new life. An attitude often seen by the people we seek to love as judgmental, condescending, or dismissive. Continue reading “We Are Easter People: Living Holy Lives”