Kate Bowlers, author of Everything Happens for a Reason:
Filed under living …
Wesley’s Questions
If you’re familiar with 12 Step programs, you might remember that Step 4 is the Truth, i.e., “Make a searching and fearless written moral inventory of yourself.” There’s a reason they say *searching and fearless* — it’s hard to be honest about yourself. (Especially in writing.) John Wesley and his Holy Club used to do … Continue reading »
Church is Good for You
Not long ago, I blogged the news that it’s better to give than to receive. Now comes the news that going to church is good for you. It’s almost like there was some kind of supernatural agency that wanted us to know how we could have better lives. (I blogged this on the web site … Continue reading »
Alaska
We buttoned up our U-Pack trailer on Wednesday, March 7, expecting it to arrive in Anchorage around March 21, or perhaps a little later. Instead it was here a week later, on March 14. It went by road to Seattle, where it was then shipped to Alaska. The world is not only flat, it’s small.
Fresh Year!
Happy New Year! The writers of the New Testament used two different words for “new.” One of them, neos, is more familiar to English speakers. It’s where we get our prefix neo-. Some hospitals, for example, have a special unit to care for neonates, or newborns. The other word, kainos, is less familiar to us; … Continue reading »
Rules
Most people think Christianity is all about rules: quit doing that and start doing this other thing. When I meet people who believe that, I tell them, as gently as I can, that they have been misinformed. It’s not always easy, because often the people who told them so were Christians! But this misconception isn’t … Continue reading »
New Years Resolutions: What Should We Work On?
The Bible describes a series of mass deportations after the empire of Babylon conquered Israel’s southern kingdom of Judah. Great numbers of Israelites were taken to Babylon from about 600 BC and especially after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. But Babylon had its own problems, and when it was conquered in 538, the … Continue reading »
What Do You Want From Life?
“What do you want from life?” Everyone answers that question differently. What I mean is this. Everyone wants to be happy. There are things we want to accomplish. We want financial security. We want to be in relationships with other people. But we’re all unique, so we all want these different things in different proportions. … Continue reading »
National Day of Prayer – One Opinion
Earlier this month, Federal Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that a national day of prayer is an unconstitutional call to religious action. Since the ruling, atheist and religious groups have been arguing for and against both the ruling and the national day of prayer itself. Many people of faith, especially Christians, have seen the ruling as … Continue reading »
Dealing with the Devil
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”—John 10:10 As a rule, Presbyterians don’t talk much about the devil. But this month, we’re going to begin reading C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters in the pastor’s Bible study. The book imagines a correspondence between … Continue reading »