“And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Like many of you, I grew up reading tales filled with wizards, dark…

You may have heard the old saw, “If you want to understand something try and change or reform it.” It’s true. You can never understand the intricacies and power of vested interests, tradition, inertia, fear and reluctance to adapt until you take on the challenge of changing an entrenched organization or a revered practice. Most people are not suited for the work of making change. They are enthusiastic at first and then ground down by the slowness of the process and the resistance from those that are affected by the changes. I keep a card on my desk with a quote from Machiavelli: “It must be considered that there is…

You may have heard the old saw, “If you want to understand something try and change or reform it.” It’s true. You can never understand the intricacies and power of vested interests, tradition, inertia, fear and reluctance to adapt until you take on the challenge of changing an entrenched organization or a revered practice. Most people are not suited for the work of making change. They are enthusiastic at first and then ground down by the slowness of the process and the resistance from those that are affected by the changes. I keep a card on my desk with a quote from Machiavelli: “It must be considered that there is…

If you want well-written insight into the work of speechwriters and their behind-the-scenes influence, I would suggest Barton Swaim’s new book, “The Speechwriter.” Its soul-searching honesty about the conflicts, challenges and moments of both praise and despair are good reading. Some of our finest pundits, commentators and authors have served as speechwriters. I am thinking of Michael Gerson (for George W. Bush), Peggy Noonan (for Ronald Reagan), and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (for John F. Kennedy). Standing somewhere between press secretaries, diarists and fiction writers, they all wrestled with finding words for individuals who were often not, with some exceptions, gifted with language. For all of them the task was to…

It wasn’t just a disagreement. It was a showdown that ended in both men, once fast friends, turning away from each other for the balance of their lives. They never see each other again because of their bitter feelings over a person Paul considered to be a deserter and virtual traitor while Barnabas not only defended him but fought to give him a second chance. Who was this young man causing the permanent split between two heroes of the early church? John Mark. He has an interesting story—especially for early failures and late bloomers. His mother, Mary, was wealthy and influential. Her home was the central meeting place for the…

"The Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality has jolted many into realizing that we are no longer living in our own Promised Land but, perhaps, are headed into what Fuller Theological Seminary President Mark Labberton calls 'the exile of the evangelical church.'"

For Father’s Day, my daughters gave me one of those nifty snap-on 4-in-1 lens converters for my iPhone. It gives you four options of two macro views, wide-angle and fisheye. Since I rarely use anything but my iPhone for photography now, I have been looking for an attachment that will give me a little more versatility and allow me to dabble with different perspectives. I’ve been trying it out and have noticed each lens lets me see something different. The subject doesn’t change but the view does. And when the view changes, it even affects the way I feel about the object. It’s not just a closer look or a wider look. It’s the ability to capture (imperfectly) what I want…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]We are halfway through 2015, and I am with my family vacationing on the Carolina beaches. At the end of 2014, I shared a few photos and quotes from my experiences throughout the year. Here are a few more for you, along with some more words from wise men and women. If you want to see more, you can visit The Smith Slant, my website for personal photos, Sunday School lessons and other thoughts and ramblings. I hope you are having as lovely a summer as the Smith family. Blessings to you all.    [/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid style=”all” items_per_page=”10″ element_width=”12″ gap=”5″ button_style=”rounded” button_color=”blue” button_size=”md” arrows_design=”none” arrows_position=”inside” arrows_color=”blue” paging_design=”radio_dots” paging_color=”grey”…

A friend asked me once, “What do you think your best contribution will be? And for what would you like to be remembered?” I did not need time to mull the answer over: “I have been a Sunday School teacher for the largest part of my life now, and other than being a husband and father, I think that is the answer to your question. I am a Sunday School teacher.” Granted, it doesn’t always feel that way when the alarm goes off at 5:00 every Sunday morning. That’s when I put together the notes I’ve worked on all day Saturday. Some mornings it feels like a calling, and other…

In the Baptist church where I grew up, we heard rumors of “intellectuals” lurking in the world beyond our safe fellowship who relished the opportunity to attack our faith. While we had never met one, we knew that one day we would, and it would be the fight of our young lives. We had to be prepared. We had to have a plan and a set of responses. Fortunately, just as David served as our model for slaying giants and Samson for bringing down pagans, we had Paul’s confrontation with the philosophers of Athens as the way to best the intellectuals later in life. We studied his brilliance in the…