Finding Our Stories in the Story of Grace
Confession: I’m a dork. I’m pushing 40, and I still love young adult fiction. I have an entire bookcase in my house devoted solely to young adult books (which isn’t so weird now that my daughter is also…
Confession: I’m a dork. I’m pushing 40, and I still love young adult fiction. I have an entire bookcase in my house devoted solely to young adult books (which isn’t so weird now that my daughter is also…
My first real job was in Washington DC. I took the Metro in each morning. A homeless man sat begging on the corner between the Metro stop and my office building. Some mornings I ignored him. Some mornings…
As a youth worker, I have the blessing and privilege of stepping into the sacred spaces of students’ lives on a regular basis. While sometimes this looks like pranks and games, a lot of times it looks more…
Another school shooting. A classmate dies in a senseless car accident. A friend’s mother dies of cancer. Why? Why does God allow these things to happen? It’s tempting to respond to those who suffer by pointing the finger…
Watching Just Mercy is not an easy, lighthearted afternoon’s entertainment, but it is well worth the energy to bring your teenagers along to see it. As an aside: you will want to be sure to see the movie…
We all dread getting caught in the act. Take my student Steven, for example. He was thrilled to discover his parents would be out of town for the weekend. So he quickly texted his friends, planned a party…
I had just returned from a weekend retreat with my son, who has recently entered middle school. That means I’m not only his father, I’m also his youth pastor. It’s weird. But cool. But still weird. Within the…
While our team recovers today from last week’s Rooted conference in Chicago, I thought I’d share the manuscript from my devotional, which opened the conference. We hope our time together blessed all of our attendees as much as…
When my oldest son Mac was applying to colleges, one school required that he write a 150-word essay about something that outraged him. He came to me wondering what he should write about: Racism? Human trafficking? The opioid…
