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I have always had a question about accountability that I don't think I have completely answered for myself. It comes to mind whenever some public figure is being examined for a decision he or she has made. This week, for example, there has been a good deal of discussion about Ed Sheeran and the decisions surrounding his concerts. The details are complicated, involving promoters, venues, other performers and the terrible war in Gaza, and Sheeran has publicly acknowledged mista

Hope is one of the strangest things about being human. We cannot see it, measure it, or prove that it is justified. It is a part of our consciousness, that part of us that science has no explanation for. And yet we live by it. We make plans because of it. We endure difficult seasons because of it. We plant gardens, raise children, make friends, fall in love, begin again and look toward tomorrow because somewhere inside us is the expectation that tomorrow is worth reaching for

There is a particular sadness that comes with getting older. It is not simply that we have fewer years ahead of us. It is that we finally understand the value of some of the years behind us. Time has a way of moving forward without asking our permission. It carries us along while we are busy living ... raising children, working, making plans, worrying about money, rushing to the next appointment, the next season, the next thing that needs to be done. We imagine there will alw

There are days when opening the morning news feels a bit like opening the refrigerator and discovering that something has gone spectacularly bad while you weren't paying attention. One headline tells of another war. Another reports a senseless act of violence. Somewhere, someone has been "cancelled" before breakfast. Families stop speaking over politics. Lifelong friendships dissolve over a Facebook post. Strangers exchange insults with such enthusiasm that one wonders if kin

Every once in a while doubt arises, usually with a raised eyebrow and a tired sigh: What if we made it all up? What if Jesus is a beautifully crafted myth ... an ancient con job, polished by centuries of repetition? It’s a fair question. Healthy even. Faith that can’t survive honest daylight isn’t faith; it’s superstition with better manners. But here’s the thing. When you actually look at the story we’re supposedly accusing of being fabricated, it behaves very badly for a li

I've been thinking lately about belief ... how it seems very tenuous in our world today ... very hard to nail down ... We live in a time when we have more information than any generation in history; and yet perhaps less agreement about what is actually a true belief to hold on to. Everywhere we turn, someone is telling us what reality really is. The news tells us one thing. Social media tells us another. Science tells us something, then someone posts a video explaining why t

Imagine that you are about to take a long drive through a country you have never visited. Someone hands you a GPS and says, “This will tell you exactly where you are and show you how to get where you are going.” You look at it. It seems to work. “But who made it?” you ask. “Nobody.” “What do you mean, nobody?” “Nobody designed it. Nobody programmed it. Nobody had a purpose in mind. It simply came together through a very long series of accidents. Isn't that fascinating!” Reall

Wendell Berry has died. And thinking about him today, his profound works, his gentle reminders, reminds me of the impact of poetry. His focus on nature brings up wonder and awe in me. I find myself thinking about the strange comfort we find in the natural world. It is strange because nature does not actually make our lives easier. The trees do not solve our problems. The mountains cannot answer our questions. A river cannot tell us whether the decision we are making is the ri

Humans are a little like tuning forks. We carry a frequency within us, and whether we mean to or not, we make the world around us vibrate. A person who knows love has a way of making room for love. A person who has been forgiven becomes a little more generous with the failures of others. Once we encounter mercy, the space around us becomes a much more gracious and loving humming. But it works the other way too. A person carrying hatred can make a room feel hard before they h

I'm thinking, it isn't necessarily science. In fact, science itself doesn't really say, “There is no God.” Science is extraordinarily good at speaking to how things work, but it isn't particularly equipped to answer questions such as Why is there something rather than nothing? What makes consciousness possible? Why do we experience beauty? Is there meaning beyond survival? Why should anything ultimately matter? Why do very few people live according to the fatalistic statement

I was reading today of a fella who was pointing out that he had been one of those so-called 'easy' children, one who had no demands. The good one. Never any trouble. And he says it took years to understand what that quietly cost him. Yes, cost him. And it likely did have some impact. I am not sure what he will do with this new knowledge; I know I learned this about myself a long time ago. It didn't change much about who I am. I did not not suddenly become a demanding and unhe

It is one thing to struggle with suffering, unanswered prayer, or the silence of God. Those things can be difficult enough. But when your faith is wounded by Christians themselves, it can leave you asking a much more troubling question: What exactly am I supposed to believe about all this? Yes, unfortunately, there is a particular kind of crisis of faith that can happen when the people who are supposed to represent Christ behave in ways that seem completely unlike him. I know

There are some words that have become fashionable in our age, and cynicism may be one of the most respectable among them. Spend an evening browsing social media, watching the evening news, or listening to political commentators, and you could easily conclude that cynicism is simply the best evidence of intelligence. The truly enlightened person, it seems, has learned to expect very little from humanity. Every noble cause is eventually corrupted. Every institution disappoints.

"The opposite of faith is not doubt. It is certainty that no further questions need be asked." Some of Christianity's most thoughtful defenders were once among its fiercest skeptics. Some mocked it. Some dismissed it as superstition. Some believed humanity had outgrown God altogether. Yet, after years of questioning, many found themselves standing at the very door they had spent a lifetime avoiding. That should make every believer a little more secure and every skeptic a litt

One of the things I love most about history is discovering that what we think we know is often only the surface of the story. Take the word Christian. Today it is one of the most recognized words in the world. Entire cultures have been shaped by it. Millions of people identify themselves by it. Yet what surprised me recently was learning that the earliest followers of Jesus never actually called themselves Christians. Not at first. Instead, they spoke of themselves as discipl

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I'm sure you've heard that before. It lands not as an accusation, but as a quiet recognition. Jesus Christ speaks it in a garden, watching His closest friends drift into sleep when He has asked them, just this once, to stay awake with Him. It’s a small moment, almost ordinary. And yet it holds the whole human story. We are like that, aren’t we? We mean well. Deep down, there is something in us that leans toward goodness, toward

1 Does Jesus care when my heart is pained Too deeply for mirth or song; As the burdens press, and the cares distress, And the way grows weary and long? O yes, He cares - I know He cares! His heart is touched with my grief; When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. 2 Does Jesus care when my way is dark With a nameless dread and fear? As the daylight fades into deep night shades, Does He care enough to be near? O yes, He cares - I know He cares! H

Luke 22:41–44 (NIV) He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. There is actually a rare medical condition called hematidrosis ... where a person, under extreme stress or terror, can begin to sweat

There is a kind of peace that doesn’t wait until life finally settles down. It doesn’t wait for the diagnosis to change, or the relationship to mend, or the future to become clear and cooperative. It is quieter than that. Less dependent. Really … independent of outcomes. It is a peace you can count on in anxiety. We are taught, in so many subtle ways, that peace is the reward for resolution. That when things line up ... when the right doors open, when the hard season passes .

Have you ever wondered what God really wants from you? Well, every now and then the Scriptures feel as if they pause, draw us close, and say: Listen carefully. It's in the book of Jeremiah 9:23–24, where we hear one of those rare moments when God explains ... simply and directly ... what truly matters. “ Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts ... boast about this: that they u