I knew there would come a day when I couldn’t sing it. As a kid, I loved the majesty of the hymn It is Well with My Soul. As life’s harsher realities set in, however, I came to hate it….
As someone with family in McMinn County, here’s how I’m straddling the fence on the debate over Maus
Several folks have asked my opinion about the recent controversy over the book Maus and its removal from the middle school curriculum in McMinn County, Tenn. Two disclosures: First, I have deep and abiding family roots in McMinn County. Second,…
What’s in your box? How I’m learning to put shame in the trash can
I spent years, decades in fact, boiling in shame. My scalding journey is well captured by one of the characters in DC Talk’s brilliant music video Just Between You and Me. I use this video in marriage and family classes…
Addressing war with those who don’t remember 9-11
I work with a variety of young people in a variety of settings. Today in a class in one of those settings, and on impulse, I told the class I wanted to take the temperature of the group. I said,…
Dear whoever you are:
Dear Whoever You Are, Who Gave Me an Anonymous Gift Ten Years Ago: As you know, back in 2012, during the national economic Great Recession — and what was to be found to be the localized Great Coverup of the…
Michael Flynn says America needs ‘one religion under God’
Former Trump national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn told a group of evangelical Christians Nov. 13 that America needs only “one religion under God.” Flynn spoke at a three-day church-based political rally in San Antonio, Texas, at the church…
Why I refused to sign a school’s belief statement just to get a job
My second private university job in two years was in jeopardy. I had transitioned from pastor to Christian university professor just at the outset of the Great Recession and was one of the low people on the totem pole at…