I think of Keith Green every Easter week because he recorded my favorite song about the power of the resurrection. What I loved most about Keith Green was his passion for Christ. Like many who came to faith during the Jesus movement Green was sold out to the Gospel. Every Easter week I listen to his recording of the Easter Song. Hear the bells ringingThey’re singing that you can be born againHear the bells ringingThey’re singing Christ is risen from the dead The angel up on the tombstoneSaid He has risen, just as He saidQuickly now, go tell his disciplesThat Jesus Christ is no longer dead Joy to the world, He has risen, hallelujahHe’s risen, hallelujahHe’s risen, hallelujah He is risen indeed. Keith Green experienced the resurrection power of Christ when he died in 1982. I sometimes wonder how his music might have changed as he matured in his faith. His journey just before his death offers a clue. After striving for years to measure
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I have been thinking and praying a lot about following Jesus in the current climate. How can I represent the grace and love of Jesus in a culture that is angry and divided? I read pundits and commentators saying terrible things about the motives of Evangelicals as if all people of faith act in lockstep. They do not. To be fair, some of their accusations are valid. I wrote a book called “When Bad Christians Happen to Good People Happen to Good People” so I would suggest I have no problem owning the shortcomings of Christians. The fact is EVERY ONE of us falls short of the glory of God. Too often the church has made what we stand against the message of our faith instead of the wonderful and liberating Good News of the Gospel. The word Evangelical literally means “Good News”. Is that the connotation the word has in our culture today? Do we share in the degeneration of the
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Toby Keith wrote a song called “Don’t Let the Old Man in” that was inspired by Clint Eastwood. The wisdom of the song came to mind as I approach another birthday. The song also has incredibly helpful applications in my life as I grow older physically and spiritually. Let me explain. Keith wrote the song after a conversation with Eastwood while they were playing golf. Clint was about to celebrate his 88th birthday by going to film a new movie. Toby Keith was blown away and asked him “how do you do it, man?” Eastwood answered, “I just get up every morning and go out. And I don’t let the old man in.” That stuck in Toby Keith’s mind and he penned the song that was featured in the movie “The Mule”. The lyrics are inspiring for me in this season of life. Don’t let the old man inI wanna leave this aloneCan’t leave it up to himHe’s knocking on my door And
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In my mind there is no more special day in sports than Opening Day in baseball. It is an annual rite of Spring to post this article on the magic of Opening Day. The smell of freshly cut emerald green grass delights the senses. The base lines painstakingly and perfectly defined by a grounds crew that is committed to perfection on this day. Red, white, and blue bunting give the ball park a festive World Series look. The players bounce around like little boys. They seem a little extra grateful that they are paid to play a kid’s game. The hot dogs taste like gourmet food. Humphrey Bogard wisely said that “a hot dog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz”. Souvenirs a young fan begs for become treasures to be kept until adulthood. And then it becomes a challenge to explain to your wife why a twenty-five-year old bobble head needs to be in the
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Even before I decided to become a Christian I was fascinated by the impact of Jesus of Nazareth. From the time Jesus began His three-year ministry He never had an office. Jesus came from modest means. He lived on the wrong side of the culturally acceptable tracks in the town of Nazareth. Jesus did not recruit a single person of “influence” to further His campaign. Jesus did not lobby any political leaders. He did not try to recruit religious leaders to support His mission. Jesus simply walked, talked, taught, loved, and invested in the lives of twelve very ordinary men. From that resume came a faith that numbers over 2 billion people today. The group that was dubbed “Christians” has continued to expand in spite of the indefensible things that have been done under the guise of His name. I have often said that one of the greatest apologetics for the Christian faith is that it continues to flourish in
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A study published by the Psychology Department at the University of Essex looked at the negative emotional and cognitive effect of hearing bad news only. Here is the opening statement from the study. “Journalists employing the maxim “if it bleeds, it leads” seem intuitively aware of the negativity bias people have in attending to and remembering bad events over good ones. Indeed, negatively valenced news dominates the press and is shared on Twitter more frequently than positively valenced. (newsjournals.plos.org) The study went on to note that “news featuring others’ immorality captivates people, it can have aversive affective and cognitive impacts, increasing emotional disturbances and negatively skewing people’s belief in the goodness of others”. I think we have witnessed that increasing and divisive effect on our culture. The authors are correct that such reporting of bad news “captivates” and leads to lots of unhealthy biting on the clickbait of negativity. The study examined an interesting counterbalance. Would showing acts of human kindness
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I made a conscious decision a few years ago to focus on communicating the message of grace and identity in Christ. With that I decided to avoid the polarizing path of politics. Some have told me that is cowardly but I can honestly say there is no message more important to me than the liberating freedom of grace. I want to share the joy of living out of what Jesus has already accomplished and what God says is true about me. I feel called to be a messenger of hope and grace. Plus I feel like the political commentator team has a pretty full roster of contributors. But how does grace enter into the conversation when we have sincere disagreements over cultural and political issues? It is fascinating how two people can look at the same information and reach completely opposite conclusions. So I am going to offer a Grace Practicing Strategy (GPS) as a roadmap for civil discussion and shining
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