“The Fierce Urgency of Now”

by | Sep 1, 2013 | Uncategorized

Sometimes I think procrastination rivals pride as the most serious sin.  Every day, we forfeit small, ordinary, but significant opportunities to make to make a difference and to grow, because we’re waiting on a better and more convenient time.  I’ll get to...

Taking the Inward Journey

by | Aug 20, 2013 | Uncategorized

I’ve lived in our east Asheville house longer than I have lived in any house in my entire life—including during my childhood.  Before coming to Asheville, I lived in Huntington, West Virginia, in five different houses and communities in greater Atlanta, in...

On the Move

by | Aug 8, 2013 | Uncategorized

Faith is a journey.  Movement and mystery are always a part of it, and real faith won’t let us settle-down into the status quo or become comfortable with staying the same or reconcile ourselves to being stuck.  Faith is about adventure, discovery, and risk;...

Knowing the People You Lead

by | Jul 9, 2013 | Uncategorized

In his Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul recognizes an important paradox.  On the one hand, he says: “Bear one another’s burdens.” On the other hand: “All must carry their own loads.”  There are some problems and challenges in life that we’ll never...

“Work”: Not Necessarirly our Job or Career

by | Jul 3, 2013 | Uncategorized

Since work is a partnership with God, it isn’t limited to our careers or our jobs. Our life’s work is greater and more enduring than the positions we hold and the titles we have. It includes all the ways we express our partnership with God—all the ways we make a...

Work: A Partnership with God

by | Jun 29, 2013 | Uncategorized

Charlie Brown and Sally are standing at the bus stop. Cars are rushing past them, and Sally asks: “Who are all those people driving in those cars?” Charlie answers, “Those are people going to work.” Sally: “Work?” Charlie: “They used to wait for the school bus like...

Knowledge and Wisdom, Cousins, not Twins

by | Jun 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

Knowledge and wisdom are related, but they are more like cousins than like identical twins.  Knowledge has to do with facts, data, and skill; wisdom has to do with significance, purpose, and intention.  Knowledge is concerned with “what” and “how”; wisdom is...

Non-negotiable

by | Jun 4, 2013 | Uncategorized

I sometimes ask the divinity school students I work with to consider their “non-negotiables”: the beliefs, convictions, and practices which are so central and crucial to their understanding of what it means to be a human being and to be a follower of Jesus that they...

Our Faith and the Faith of Children

by | May 24, 2013 | Uncategorized

Here are sketchy notes from a talk I recently gave to parents of children at First Baptist Church of Asheville.  A mother of two preschool children was cleaning her kitchen one morning, hoping to get the breakfast dishes put in the dishwasher, the milk and cereal...

Being and Being Loved, Before Doing and Duty

by | May 16, 2013 | Uncategorized

A lot of us aren’t living the kind of life we were made to live.  In our rare moments of clear self-awareness, when the fog of confusion lifts and the clouds of illusion melt, we can see the distance between who we are and who we’re meant to be.  The good...