Our children need to know what failure feels like as they grow up, so that when they grow up, failure can be an opportunity to learn rather than a debilitating crisis. I’m thankful that my parents equipped me to thrive and I’m hopeful that my wife and I can pass on the legacy to... Continue Reading

Dr. Modupeh Cole died on earlier today, according to Sidie Yayah Tunis, director of communications for Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Trained in the United States, Cole was one of the top doctors working in the isolation ward in Freetown’s Connaught Hospital. He tested positive for the disease last week and received treatment... Continue Reading

The remorse, regret, sadness, and burden of my failures are not mine alone. I have profoundly hurt my family and you, my church family, and I have betrayed your trust again. I am so deeply sorry that I have failed to be the Christian my teaching has suggested I am. Letters from Park Cities Presbyterian... Continue Reading

I’m not suggesting any “slippery slope” sort of argument here, implying that a shift in one attitude will prompt lock-step adjustments in others. In reality, our moral systems concerning sex and sexuality tend rather to resemble personalized “tool kits” reflecting distinctive visions of the purpose of sex and significant relationships (and their proper timing), the... Continue Reading

Spiritually speaking, we’re all Barry Bonds. We want awesomeness more than we want faithfulness. But the Lord is making us into Cal Ripkens. Teaching us that it’s more about showing up than showing off. Showing up with the hope of the gospel, day in and day out.   Baseball was not my sport, but from... Continue Reading

The avenues in which we can demonstrate that we love our neighbor as ourselves are all around us. We can invest in our grandchildren, our neighbors, our churches, and myriads of needs around the world. We have earned our rest from punching the clock. We have earned our rest from reporting to our supervisor. We... Continue Reading

Maybe it’s the smug servant Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Perhaps it’s the extremely suspicious Boston community in Nathaniel Hawthrone’s The Scarlett Letter. Or it could be the more recent TV drama named for the location of the infamous Salem witch trials of early colonial America. High school history books continue to tell tales of America’s Pharisaic... Continue Reading

  If we’re going to warn people of the perils of Big Gulps and French fries, shouldn’t we warn them of the dangers of sex? If we’re going to go so far as ban sugary drinks and salt, shouldn’t we at least advocate abstinence? What kind of society celebrates, perpetuates, and capitalizes on a behavior... Continue Reading

Other methods may be appropriate at times such as mere diversion of attention or counting to four.  The look and the hot-seat should be a part of your arsenal in child-rearing.  The look is invaluable in public places.  I was far from being a perfect father, and maybe even far from being a good father,... Continue Reading

I don’t know the how or the why of Cowper’s life and despair. Nor do you. Here is a comment that makes sense from the perspective of Christian faith and points to the real difference between the depression of Robin Williams and William Cowper is to be found essentially in Christ now and experientially only... Continue Reading