You’ve probably heard. October is Pastor Appreciation Month. But you don’t have to limit your support to just one month of the year. Your pastor needs your prayers every day. As the Now What? feature story, “Broken to Serve,” movingly illustrates, while it is common to put our pastors on a pedestal as super-spiritual and…
Tag: Extras
The Rock and the Roller Coaster
I like roller coasters, but I like rocks better. Every now and then (admittedly less often as the years pass) I find myself getting on a roller coaster to be lifted and plunged, tossed and turned. It’s thrilling. Scary — but safe-scary. I am buckled in tight, riding on a short, predictable track, then the…
The Olympics and Learning to Limp
Like many, I watched some of the Olympics on TV over the past two weeks. The training and talent of the young athletes were breathtaking. Their vigor and vitality, to say nothing of their amazing feats, made me want to put on my running shoes, or swimsuit, and get outside — get in shape! It…
Let the Children
My small, rural church in the Ozarks is teeming with children. In the life of this congregation they are both disturbance and delight. I am as likely to be correcting them for swinging riotously from the banisters as I am to praise them for behaving so nicely in service. All told, our fellowship would be…
We Thirst
These two words — we thirst — sum up the human condition as well as any I can think of. More than just our body’s physical need for refreshing water, we thirst deep down in our souls too. To be human is to experience longing, the desire to be full and complete. We thirst for…
Thoughts on Thorns: The Problem of Pain
C. S. Lewis is one of the greatest Christian authors who ever lived. Many know his name connected to works like The Chronicles of Narnia. But maybe fewer people know that Lewis also wrote about pain, based on some of his personal losses in early childhood. Lewis begins his book The Problem of Pain with…