prayer

Filtering Your Thoughts

I sat on a bench next to our lake as I prayed this morning and admired the beautiful day, the kind that helps me endure our brutal summers. Water lilies flapped lightly against the water in the cool breeze; ospreys glided overhead. And then I found myself fixing on one ominous pinkish-gray cloud that alternately coalesced and fragmented against the otherwise serene (more…)

Stupid Things Christians Say

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. – James 3:17

I’m a biblical purist, and I have been known to have little patience with people who misrepresent Christ while managing to sound spiritual. Here are a few classic examples of stupid things Christians say:

A Family Likeness

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.—1 Corinthians 4:16

I never looked like anyone in my birth family. My mother had medium brown hair, dark skin and blue eyes; my sister was blond, blue-eyed and big-boned; then there was tiny little black-haired, green-eyed me. “You must be adopted,” I heard more than once—from extended family members, no less.

In fact, everything about (more…)

When the World’s Going to Hell in a Hand Basket

Wars and rumors of wars. Persecutions. Plagues. Disasters. I have to admit I’ve been having a bit of a tough time knowing how to pray for as I watch the world churn. And I can’t be the only one. And when I read that “all these are but the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8), I find little consolation. If all (more…)