Earlier this week I was with Peter Greer of Hope International. He was in town to speak to the faculty and board of East Texas Baptist University about the importance of the board’s continuous focus on the mission of the school and the dangers of drifting. But he also talked with them about the role of periodic self-reflection on the part of the board members individually to make sure they were building not only the school but their own inner commitment to the deeper purpose of the school. Peter’s approach was neither preachy or pointed. It was an invitation to stay true both personally and corporately. I had the same…

A few years ago a friend and his wife lost their son to suicide. I attended the service and then wrote a blog that expressed how I felt about their tragedy. Shortly afterwards, my friend asked me to work with him putting together a small conference to help families who have experienced the pain of mental illness. I thought about it for a few days before telling him that this issue was not my “sweet spot,” and it would work best if he found someone for whom it was a passion. We saw each other periodically over the next two years. He repeated his request each time, and I always responded with the same answer. It was just not for me. One night as I was getting into bed, I was startled to hear a voice in my…

The church service before I taught Sunday School this week was not to my taste. It’s hard for me to believe God finds this edifying. The music was too loud and hands were raised throughout the worship center, perhaps tentatively at first but then accompanied by a little swaying and pointing toward the ceiling. People started to move their lips. I have thought about recommending we have a special section at the back for people so inclined. Furthermore, we’ve switched from offering plates to those velvet bags to keep you from seeing what other people are putting in. And the large screens make the service feel more like Cinemark than…

In 2010 Emilio Estevez starred in and directed his father, Martin Sheen, in the movie, “The Way.” Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago. But instead of returning home, Tom sets out on the pilgrimage to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. What he doesn’t realize is the profound impact the Camino will have on him as it has others over hundreds of years. People flock to the “the way” in Spain for many different reasons every year. For some, it is a time of…

In 2010 Emilio Estevez starred in and directed his father, Martin Sheen, in the movie, “The Way.” Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago. But instead of returning home, Tom sets out on the pilgrimage to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. What he doesn’t realize is the profound impact the Camino will have on him as it has others over hundreds of years. People flock to the “the way” in Spain for many different reasons every year. For some, it is a time of…

In 1963, when I was a junior in high school, four of us decided to take on President Kennedy’s challenge to walk 50 miles in one day. His brother, Bobby, had just finished his own walk, trudging through snow and slush from Washington, DC, to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia – wearing Oxford loafers on his feet. We were inspired and anxious to do the same. Up at dawn in our loafers (and with a carton of cigarettes), we headed out with no forethought except the vague determination to return heroes and probably be invited to the White House. Five miles into the hike it began to rain and, of course, we…

I was impatient because I felt my head – not my heart – condemning me that I was just standing there when I should be doing something practical to help…and there was only one thing I knew to do.

If you click on this link and submit a current photograph, you can see what you will look like in the future. It’s called “age progression software” and was developed by forensic experts to help find people who had been missing for years. Another tool you can use to get a peek into the future is to read “Generations: The History of America’s Future” by William Strauss and Neil Howe. While their methodology of dividing populations into generations and then subdividing each generation into four basic types — Civic, Idealists, Adaptive and Reactives — has been controversial, it has also been helpful as a way to understand the generational changes…

Dear Shawn, I liked your question last week but it was so early in the morning. (Why do young men have Bible study before dawn?) Between the breakfast tacos and coffee my mind was not yet focused. But, I’ve been thinking about what you asked, “How do we keep from being conformed to the patterns of this world?” It’s the right question – with many good answers. I have found two disciplines – and they do not come naturally – that have helped. I call them “antidotes to conformity.” First, Paul taught the personal discipline of seeing ourselves clearly. He calls it “sober judgment,” and it is our responsibility to…

There is something in all of us that desires a king – whether it be the Israelites longing for a king to fight their battles or it be our looking forward to the “rightful king” C.S. Lewis describes in “Mere Christianity.” We see that being played out now in our turning the election of a President into the quest for a King who will fight our particular partisan battles for us. Sadly, it is those who have been brought up on the assumption that America is the new Israel who are being, as St. Paul said, “blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and…