“Hey, are you OK? As soon as I heard, I thought of you.” That’s what I heard on the other end of the phone from my best friend the day Queen Elizabeth died. Why did the death of a monarch…
Two football coaches went up to pray …
Prayer is communication in the divine realm. When we pray, we share openly with God and listen attentively to the internal whispers of the Spirit in communion with our own. Whether audible or silent, our voice to God should be…
‘Grief brain’: The three big deficits of grief
Grief is relentless. The only way to get through grief is to grieve. The only way to get through the pain is to feel and process the pain. One of the best ways to manage the stress and anxiety that…
Prayer might not be enough
When someone shares a prayer request, what do you hear? We’ve been programmed to tell others when we have a need for God’s help. Many of us grew up going to Wednesday prayer service, where a significant block of time…
Mending broken pieces and broken lives with kintsugi
Sometimes understanding other cultures’ artistic and spiritual perspectives brings greater meaning to our shared humanity. This article is about brokenness in my creative world. As 2022 came to a close, I designed a New Year’s card with one of my…
When my church and I let Jesus down: Jesus in the distressing disguise of the homeless
My wife and I were in the mountains of North Carolina (Bakersville) for a week and a half during the Christmas season staying in what used to be her parents’ home. On a few days it was cold, bone-chilling cold….
What I’m learning as a Maston Scholar: ‘Don’t forget!’
“Don’t forget!” Those were the exact words a professor shared with us at the recent retreat for T.B. Maston Scholars. I was touched in a way that was a call for action for myself and the Christian world. I am…
A world inside a world, spinning around
Poet Marnie Abrahams describes an incident from her childhood in a Southeast Asian country, where she spent some fun days with her family at “The American Club”: Pak Ohm taught us to swim, holding our breath and kicking every Tuesday…
Faith and civil rights went together for Martin Luther King
We remember the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., who was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta. His birthday became a federal holiday in 1983 and is observed on the third Monday of January. It became a…
My love-hate relationship with football
This photo from 1964 tells you a lot about me. I had just turned 4 years old. You see how my mother has me dressed. We’re visiting my dad’s sister. My boy cousins had gotten football helmets for Christmas, and…
A privileged white Southern dad reflects on racism and the legacy of MLK
“I was born a poor Black child.” So begins Steve Martin’s movie The Jerk — the first R-rated movie I saw. I was 13 and begged my college-professor father to take me. As we were leaving his office, he asked…
Does NAMB have no clue?
I’ve kept quiet amid the several years of very public clamoring for more financial transparency at the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board because I no longer have a dog in that hunt. However, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a…