Last spring I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for NFL players put on by Pro Athletes Outreach (PAO), a group which exists to unite a community of pro athletes and couples to grow as disciples of Jesus and positively impact their spheres of influence. They have a fantastic outreach to professional football and baseball athletes and their wives. I’ve seen firsthand the amazing difference they’re making. In the off-season I exchanged emails and texts with dozens of NFL players and cha..Continue reading→
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Thoughts
Motherhood Is a Marathon
I wanted to do great things for God. In the spring of my senior year of college, on the brink of embarking upon my own journey into adulthood, my future was undecided and that was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling. As a philosophy major, my path was narrower than I had realized, but I was sure it would take me on some grand and glorious adventure. I knew the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. “Glorify” sounds like such a grand term. It evokes images of battlefie..Continue reading→
1 Peter 5:7–8: How Not to Battle Anxiety
Anxieties attack our faith and torment our peace. The question with anxiety is not whether it will come, but rather, how can I fight it when it does? Watch NowContinue reading→
Is Love of Money Really the Root of All Evils?
Is the love of money the “root of all evils” or only the “root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10)? “All evils” is the formal English equivalent of the original Greek (pantōn tōn kakōn). It is remarkable that all older versions of the Bible translate 1 Timothy 6:10 in the more literal way: “The love of money is the root of all evils” (or all evil). This includes the Wycliffe Bible, Luther Bibel, Geneva Bible, King James Version, Douay-Rheims, Darby Bible, and Revised Standard Version. Bu..Continue reading→
Hot Topics
I’m Glad Paul Used This Word
When we’re perplexed, we think, “How did this happen?” or “Why is this happening?” and we have no answer. Things don’t seem to line up with our expectations. I thought if I did this, God would do this. If I sowed, I’d reap. Well, you will reap, but before the harvest comes you might have to fight off a few crows. Before you see the sunshine, you might have to walk through a dark valley. The perplexing valley. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair…2..Continue reading→
When You Are Tempted to Despair
So when we get sick, I am tempted to despair. I feel helpless, weak, and useless. Questions swirl around my mind all day and night, “Should I switch doctors?” “What’s the long-term effect of this medication?” “When will we get better?” “How long can I go without sleep?” I find myself irritable and impatient. Stressed and anxious. Reactionary. All my thoughts and energies are focused on what’s happening, it becomes consuming. I just want God to intervene, fix it all, and return things back to nor..Continue reading→
The Relative Value of Temporal Things (Wilberforce)
“This disposition alone must constitute a vast difference between the habitual temper of the real Christian and that of the mass of nominal Christians. The concerns of the present world dominate them almost entirely. They know indeed that they are mortal, but they do not feel it. For the truth finds its way only into their minds but cannot gain admission to their hearts. This understanding of the mind is altogether different from that strong practical impression of the infinite importance of ete..Continue reading→
Children Are People Too
Our children are born with inherent worth and individual traits. We should remember that in raising them. It’s amazing to watch our children grow up and become the men and women God has planned for them to be. Each one is unique and has unique challenges and unique gifts. They may not fit our “mold,” but they were made to fit the place God designed them for. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Eph. 6:4 ESV In the last ..Continue reading→
Movies
COMMON BRINGS GLORY TO THE GRAMMYS (AND THE OSCARS): An Interview
What 2015 Grammy moment moved you? Kanye West’s cut in on Beck’s acceptance speech for “Album of the Year” garnered most of the headlines. How sad to a stunt overshadow Annie Lennox’s rousing rendition of “I Put a Spell On You” with Hozier. Pharrell reimagined his sunny single, “Happy,” into an intriguing protest echoing the “Hands up/Don’t shoot” posture that accompanied events in Ferguson, Missouri. Prince slipped in the best one-liner of the night, “Albums still matter. Just like books and bl..Continue reading→
Diablo Cody Tweets About Rescuing Jinger Duggar
Her new movie, Paradise, is all about religion. In the movie, which was originally titled Lamb of God, a young religious woman (Julianne Hough) is in a terrible accident, which causes her to question G-d and run off to Las Vegas to see what sin feels like. Well, it looks like screenwriter/director Diablo Cody had some pretty specific pop-culture inspirations for the movie: The Duggars. Particularly Jinger. Diablo recently tweeted that if Jinger ever wants to run away from her family, she can com..Continue reading→
Music
As We Ascend Releases First Single Wash Away to iTunes
As We Ascend's first single "Wash Away" is now available on iTunes, six days before the completion of their PledgeMusic campaign to fund the full length album Farewell to Midnight. In addition to being available on iTunes, "Wash Away" is also going for adds at radio. The PledgeMusic campaign is currently at 95% of its goal. You can listen to "Wash Away" below. As We Ascend, formed by former members of We As Human, launched their PledgeMusic campaign with the unique invitation to fans to "..Continue reading→
Bizzle Petitions for Financial Support of New Project
The recent release of Bizzle's new project Crowns & Crosses has sparked a conversation about the realities of being an artist with his God Over Money fans. In a recent newsletter, Bizzle details the shocking differences between a fan purchasing a physical or digital copy of any GOM release versus streaming through the likes of Spotify or Apple Music. He begins with the staggering reality that it takes 1,500 streams to equal that of one album sale. For example, if 100,000 fans stream the en..Continue reading→
John Mark McMillan Launches Pre-order for ‘Mercury & Lightning’
John Mark McMillan has launched a pre-order for his upcoming album Mercury & Lightning through PledgeMusic. The album has been preceded by the release of "Wilderlove" and "No Country." The PledgeMusic pre-order gives fans the chance to purchase a wide range of merch packages, with each one providing access to exclusive behind-the-scenes information approaching the album's release. The pre-order was launched in part due to the overwhelmingly positive response to the single "Wilderlove," re..Continue reading→
Sho Baraka’s ‘The Narrative’ Debuts at No. 6 on iTunes Hip Hop Chart and No. 26 on iTunes Overall
Critically acclaimed hip hop artist Sho Baraka unleashed The Narrative last week, and it was well received by fans and critics alike as it peaked at No. 6 on iTunes Hip Hop Chart and No. 26 on iTunes Overall Albums Chart. Created with the intention to generate a discussion among each other about the social issues we face today and throughout history, Sho Baraka is doing just that as shown by the critics below "Sho Baraka gives us conscious hip hop that makes us think. It is not intended for eas..Continue reading→
MercyMe’s ‘Welcome To The New’ Receives RIAA Gold Certification
GRAMMY® Nominated MercyMe's Welcome To The New (2014) has been honored with RIAA Gold Certification, marking the sixth gold album for the band in addition to a double platinum album and a platinum video. Welcome To The New earned two GRAMMY® nods, multiple GMA Dove Award honors and an American Music Award nomination. In addition, the album boasts three No. 1 singles with "Greater," "Flawless" and "Dear Younger Me," and one Top 5 single with "Shake." MercyMe is planning to unveil a new recor..Continue reading→
Deraj Drops A New Single
Deraj blessed both the genre and Reflection Music Group (RMG) fans worldwide with a new banger for the car on "Know That's Me," featuring KYNG. Listeners can purchase not only the track, but also the instrumental backing and an acapella version of the track. The three versions of this project may be purchased here, or streamed on Spotify. Visuals for the project debuted under the direction of Joe Desantis. The video may be viewed below. RMG has been quite the productive label as of late..Continue reading→
Live in Chicago: The Looking for America Tour by Switchfoot
Track Listing 01. Holy Water 02. Meant To Live 03. Bull In A China Shop 04. Where The Light Shines Through 05. I Won't Let You Go 06. Love Alone Is Worth The Fight 07. Hello Hurricane 08. If The House Burns Down Tonight 09. Float 10. Live it Well Continue reading→
Courtney Orlando Releases New Single, Wait On You
Courtney Orlando released his latest single "Wait on You" on October 10. You can download the track for free on SoundCloud here. Orlando describes the new track as an open conversation between him and God. No future plans of a full length project have been released at this time. The artist formally known as J.R. dug his roots into the hip-hop genre over a decade ago with his debut release Metamorphosis in 2005. Fittingly, change has followed him in the area of style, depth and even branding a..Continue reading→
The Narrative by Sho Baraka
Track Listing 01. Foreward, 1619 02. Soul, 1971 03. Kanye, 2009 (feat. Jackie Hill Perry) 04. Love, 1959 05. Here, 2016 (feat. Lecrae) 06. 30 & Up, 1986 (feat. Courtney Orlando) 07. Profhet, 1968 (feat. James Portier) 08. Maybe Both, 1865 (feat. James Portier) Purchase 09. Excellent, 2017 Purchase 10. Road to Humble, 1979 Purchase 11. Myhood, U.S.A., 1937 (feat. Vanessa Hill) 12. Words, 2006 13. Fathers, 2004 Purchase 14. Piano Break, 33 A.D. Continue reading→
American
Is it Reasonable? (RJS)
Thus far Tim Keller’s book Making Sense of God : An Invitation to the Skeptical has looked at six aspects of human life, givens that Keller suggests we cannot live without: meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, hope, and justice. Each chapter looked at both secular and Christian narratives, and at the specific focus that Christianity offers. In the last two chapters he turns to a broader overview. He begins by asking “is it reasonable to believe in God?” and offers six specific reasons the a..
The “Historical” Adam
From Dennis Venema, Scot McKnight, Adam and the Genome Before I get to clips from the book, I want to suggest that the best place to begin when it comes to the so-called “historical” Adam issue is not with the word “historical” but with the word “literary.” That is, the only Adam Jews knew was the Adam of the Bible. That’s the literary Adam and the word “literary” does not mean either “historical” or “mythical.” It means the Adam in the Bible. That Adam takes on a life of his own, and often his ..
Defending Ruth Tucker
From Arise, used with permissionBy Maureen Farrell GarciaOn January 25, 2017If you haven’t yet read Ruth Tucker’s book, Black and White Bible, Black and Blue Wife, you should. Full disclosure: I have been reading her work for a few decades. It challenged me to reconsider what it meant to be created in God’s image as a female. While I do not agree with all that Tucker writes in her newest book, her methodology and her argument are important to consider. Further, her personal story is invaluable i..
The Scandal of the Evangelical Soul
Both conservative evangelicals and progressive evangelicals lost their soul in the last two years. For two years Christians have ramped up their verbal engagement in a presidential election, and it seems to me that European evangelicals have engaged the same. Everywhere we have traveled in the last two years, especially in the last nine months, the conversation is about Trump, Hillary, and the president. Mostly about Trump. Serious Christian conversations about other topics have been brushed asi..
Entertainment
‘The Angry Birds Movie’ is a volatile pun fest
Chuck, voiced by Josh Gad, and Red, voiced by Jason Sudeikis, appear in the animated movie “The Angry Birds Movie.” (CNS/Sony) Flying off the gigantic success of its 2009 online video game “Angry Birds,” Rovio Entertainment of Finland commissioned a script from animation film and television writer John Vitti (“The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill,” “Ice Age”) for a feature film about the birds that fly via slingshot. Joined by animators Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly in their directorial debut, “The ..
I Am Iron Man
Team Cap or Team Iron Man? Captain America: Civil War practically demands its fans to take sides—even before they even walk into the theater. When I went to my advance screening for Civil War, the PR reps asked me whose side I was on. I said Captain America, of course, and they handed me a blue wristband and waved me through. I’ve always been a Cap guy. His motives are purer than Iron Man’s His movies are better. Heck, he’s better. Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) is an old-fash..
Director Rodrigo Garcia Talks Last Days in the Desert
Ewan McGregor and Rodrigo Garcia on the set of Last Days in the Desert. Photo courtesy Different Drummer.Director Rodrigo Garcia is not a particularly religious guy. He jokingly refers to himself as a “secular Catholic,” having grown up in Mexico and Spain where Catholicism was an integral part of the culture. But he says, “You don’t have to be Catholic to be intrigued by the life of Jesus.” Garcia is so intrigued with Jesus that he wrote and directed a whole movie about Him. Last ..
Pope Francis invites us to reflect mercy in our speech and in Tweets for World Communications Day 2016
One of the best-kept secrets of the Catholic Church is that we have a beautiful tradition of teaching about communication and media that goes back to the 1930s and continues through today. This teaching covers speaking with one another in the family, parish and community, to evangelization, to all the means of communication including radio, television, movies, social media and the culture they create. Back in 1963 one of the Second Vatican Council documents issued by Pope Paul VI was “Inter Miri..
US
A book on why we should trust the Bible
There are four more shopping days until Christmas, time (especially if you have Amazon Prime with free two-day shipping) to buy for someone who needs it Trevor Sutton’s new book Why Should I Trust the Bible? Trevor is the author of another good book, Being Lutheran. He is a young pastor and an excellent, enjoyable-to-read writer. (I’m going to be collaborating with him on a project–more on that later.) This book takes on the confusions, untruths, and half-truths that undermine confidence in the ..
Mary and the divine inversion
In discussing why the Virgin Birth of Christ is important, James A. Rogers (Texas A&M professor and LCMS member) cites Mary as an example of the “divine inversion.” That is, the way God turns upside down what we would expect. This theme, which Mary herself celebrates in the Magnificat, runs throughout the Bible, culminating in the Cross. Here is how Prof. Rogers concludes his reflections: The Virgin Birth, like the Cross itself, confounds what we think we know; it confounds our belief that power..
The Christmas stories of Connie Willis & her favorite Christmas movies
Connie Willis is an award-winning science fiction author and a deft satirist of contemporary foibles. (Read her novel Bellwether. Never again will you take seriously fashions, trends, or being cool.) She is also a Christian. (For more on her biography, go here.) She has published a collection of short stories about Christmas–gift idea!–entitled Miracles and Other Christmas Stories. I’m reading them as part of my Advent and Christmas observance and enjoying them greatly. Some of them are of the M..
Cancelling church on Christmas
Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. So once again, many congregations are CANCELLING SERVICES! That boggles my mind. You should go to church on Christmas even when it doesn’t fall on a Sunday! But when it does, why wouldn’t you go to church as you usually would? OK, I understand about opening presents, making the Christmas dinner, and all that. I understand someone missing church, though that’s not to condone it. But what I cannot understand is a church that would not open its doors on Christ..