I was kicked out of a private Christian school during my senior year. While I tried my best to remain invisible those last few weeks before graduation and keep my head down, someone saw me smoking a cigarette. Off campus. In my car, driving down the interstate. Needless to say, this wasn’t allowed. It was my third suspension for not following the rules, so I guess you could say I had it coming. Since my grades were decent, they let me take my final exams, wear my cap and gown and walk with my Continue Reading
When You Can’t Escape Your Past
“Are you a pagan?” I sat in a body-piercing studio with one of the owners gazing at a tattoo displayed on the nave of my back. It was a gnome, sitting on a mushroom and playing a fife. Everything about it screamed pot-smoker, hippy and apparently, pagan. And to think I got it because I thought it looked cool. To me it said, “Outsider,” a label I gave myself during my younger years. The man’s question caught me off guard. I was twenty-one at the time and wasn’t sure who I was, let alone Continue Reading
The Danger of Diluting the Gospel of Grace
For a long time, I believed a lie that threatens the heartbeat of our church. It sneaks in like a slow poison and its symptoms are often loss of joy, endless busyness and little time for meaningful relationships.It doesn’t announce itself with brazen warning signs or even seem evident in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. But it’s there, and it’s endangering the gospel message Christ was crucified to bring to the lost and weary. It pollutes the hope of our Redeemer and plants the seed of Continue Reading