Author: S&P

A few years ago, I was reading Gretchen Rubin’s New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project, where she narrates a year of trying to become a happier person through implementing the research findings of positive psychologists (“happy scientists” as they are sometimes called). As I read this fascinating and helpful book, I couldn’t help thinking, “Surely Christians can do better than ...

It’s difficult to do anything on social media without bumping into a “Which _____ are you?” quiz. “Which Disney princess are you?” “What state you actually belong in?” “What mental age are you?” “Which pet should you actually have?” “What period of history do you really belong in?” “What food matches your personality? And my personal favorite: “What arbitrary thing are you?” Similar “personality q...

As a writer, admittedly, I’ve been somewhat distracted lately. I scroll through the feeds of my social media and it is filled with a plethora of “hot topics.” Every day, there is a new onslaught of blog posts, rants, and editorialized articles. It’s enough to make me want to write an open letter to all of the people that write open letters. Much has been written about the distraction that social m...

American culture fosters discontentment and all the miseries and heartaches that go along with it. Discontentment is coveting what we do not have, longing for it, believing that if we have it, then we will be satisfied. I’ve been reading Jeremiah Burroughs’ classic book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, and wanted to share a bit of it here. If you haven’t read this book, let me encourage y...

A pastor friend told me last week that he had church members enraged with him when he suggested from the pulpit that we ought to pray for the salvation of Islamic State terrorists. The people in his church told him that he ought to be calling for justice against them, given their brutal murder of Christians, not for mercy. I thought about my friend a few days ago when these murderous fiends behead...

I had an E.F. Hutton moment when I walked into a deli in New Orleans and ordered a roast beef sandwich on Friday during Lent. As soon as I realized what the stares were all about I quickly changed my order out of respect. At the same time, having lived in New Orleans for a number of years, I was asked more than once why I didn’t observe Lent. Depending upon who was doing the asking my typical repl...

If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then why do we pray? What can we possibly tell God that He doesn’t already know? Jack Graham [embedded content] For more information about Jack Graham, visit: www.prestonwood.org or www.powerpoint.org For more answers to questions about Christianity, visit: www.christianity.com Originally published October 22, 2012.

Over at our sister site, Crosswalk.com, Fridays mean movies. Today, several new reviews appeared on the site, as they do every weekend, of films opening in theaters across the country. It’s a rare occurrence that we don’t review a movie that gets a wide release – especially one everyone is talking about. But today you won’t find an official review of the Fifty Shades of Grey film on our websi...

It’s Valentine’s season again. Strange, how in our popular culture the word “love” can be used in such a trivial way, but then also be used to refer to the deepest of relationships. “I love my wife!” “I love hamburgers!” “I love my husband!” “I love the movie Nacho Libre!” No wonder it’s so easy for us to miss the type of love God calls us to express toward, not just our favorite ...

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place,remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committedterrible deeds in the name of Christ…”   —President Barack Obama, February 5, 2015 National Prayer Breakfast The Crusades may have happened 1000 years ago, but they’re headline news once again. President Obama’s statement above compar...

I’m a super busy husband and father of three. Sometimes I feel piled under with all the things on my plate. Praise God he’s given my bride as a helpmate; my wife is a superstar! She helps in so many ways, yet, too often I either take it for granted, or – with the weight of everything else – I overlook shepherding and loving her well. This article is not just an admonition to other husbands; it’s a...

President Barack Obama’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015 has reverberated through the corridors of the world and provoked shock and dismay in numerous quarters. Even a professor at the University of London commented on his shallow understanding of the Crusades. I hesitated to write anything on the subject because it would drag me into politics or into a sober...