Long before becoming a parent, I developed a fear of my children one day rebelling and rejecting everything they were taught…by becoming New Orleans Saints fans (Go Falcons! #riseup). All joking aside, parents have the incredible responsibility of balancing between too much sheltering and too much freedom. In the end, no matter the outcome, where there is grace and forgiveness, there is always hope. There is a famous teaching known as “The Par ...

So much of our life is spent in process. In fact, the reality is that most of our lives are lived while on our way to something. The normal day is not a day that we reach a goal or have a break through. The normal day is a day that we are taking one more step in a journey towards a goal or towards a breakthrough. It is easy to relate this topic to some physical goal you have set for yourself or your family. It might be a diet, budget, or educatio ...

Something I learned this week about God is so basic but it’s application has been such a revelation of peace to me. We all know that God is a planner. He has written the beginning and the end of the story. He is even referred to as the “Alpha and Omega” (beginning and end). Like many Christians I know, I do not struggle with accepting that truth. In my head I also don’t struggle with knowing that he has planned the in-between…. but I almost NEVER ...

In his book The Cross and the Prodigal, Kenneth Bailey references a tradition carried out in ancient Palestine whenever a family member who leaves the community, wastes their inheritance among outsiders (Gentiles), and dares to come home. It was called the kezazah ceremony. The patriarch leaders of the community would bring a large pot and smash it in front of the wayward relative to represent the broken relationship and either send him on his wa ...

Marian Webster defines Meek as : having or showing a quiet and gentle nature : not wanting to fight or argue with other people The full Definition includes: enduring injury with patience and without resentment, deficient in spirit and courage, not violent or strong I have to tell you when I read this definition of meek there is nothing in my carnal desire that would make we value or strive to be meek. The world does not make movies about th ...

My wife and I often marvel at how messy our kids can be. We are shocked that they simply can not see the sock they left on the floor or their soccer bag in the middle of the garage. There is ALWAYS someone in the kitchen eating something and we are ALAWYS out of something and in need of going to the market. The walls get marks on them, my landscaping gets trampled, and I can not even begin to tell you how many times my wife cleans the glass on th ...