There are many instances in my childhood where logic got me into trouble. It usually began with me saying “I told you so” and you can guess that it didn’t end well.
Crossroads: The Body of Christ
January 24, 2022 by
Talk about a time in your life when you had to work as a team with others. Talk about what your role was and how each person had a different role. What were you trying to accomplish?
Connections 02.24.2019: Life after Death
February 17, 2019 by
Who among us has not wondered about the afterlife? Especially when someone we know dies, we cling to the few descriptions the Bible gives us about what we imagine as “heaven.” God is usually depicted as speaking from heaven, as in Psalm 33:13.
Formations 05.20.2018: The Common Spirit
May 6, 2018 by
A few weeks back, driving home from work, the truck in front of me kicked up rainbows from the leftover rainwater. I’d seen rainbows cast by sprinklers over St. Augustine but never by tires against asphalt. Then we crossed the first hill, my angle of view changed, and the rainbows disappeared.
Formations 10.18.2015: SMART Service
October 11, 2015 by
Have you ever tried to break out of a routine that you thought was holding you back? Maybe you wanted to eat healthier, be more active, or set aside more quality time with friends and loved ones. How did you do it? Was it easy?
Formations 10.04.2015: Our Spectacular Bodies
September 27, 2015 by
The human body is capable of so many more amazing, mysterious things than we usually realize. For example, we probably all grew up learning that we have five senses. Guess what? We have a lot more than that.
Uniform 05.31.2015: The Greatest Gift Is Love
May 24, 2015 by
The church can and should be a community in which its members experience a taste of heaven right here on Earth. That is so because God is present in the church and where God is, God’s love is.
Uniform 05.24.2015: The Gift of Interpretation
May 17, 2015 by
One of my favorite television series is the BBC’s Doctor Who. This long-running show features the Doctor, a time-traveling alien who looks like you and me but has an exceptional time machine/spaceship called the TARDIS.
Uniform 05.17.2015: The Spirit Creates One Body
May 10, 2015 by
J. R. Ewing was shot in his office at Ewing Oil on March 21, 1980 by an unseen and thus unknown assailant. Millions of Americans would spend the next eight months pondering and debating the question “Who shot J. R.?”
Uniform 05.10.2015: Unity in Love
May 3, 2015 by
Paul tells us that love is the strongest bond—greater than faith and hope. He gives us a description of love that seems impossible to attain, though it is definitely something worth striving for.
Formations 04.19.2015: Seeking Wisdom
April 12, 2015 by
Who are the wisest people you know? More important, how did they get that way? A sociology professor at the University of Florida studies and writes on the topic of wisdom.
Formations 10.12.2014: Teamwork
October 5, 2014 by
A team of students from Cincinnati’s Mason neighborhood has distinguished itself in creativity and problem-solving. The Global Finals of Destination Imagination, or DI for short, was held last May in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Formations 10.05.2014: Who Benefits from Gifted Education?
September 28, 2014 by
Who benefits most from elementary-school gifted programs? According to a study from two economics professors, it isn’t the students with the highest IQs but those with more average IQs but high standardized test scores.
Formations 08.31.2014: Courtroom Antics
August 24, 2014 by
A Google News search for “frivolous lawsuit” brings back about 2,400 results. Scrolling through the first few pages indicates that most of these lawsuits have to do with politicians and ex-politicians at every level of government.
Formations 08.24.2014: Church Discipline
August 17, 2014 by
The topic of “church discipline” can be tricky because many readers know of (or have experienced) frivolous, judgmental, and mean-spirited attempts to secure the “purity” of the church. There is no point in pretending that we don’t bring this baggage to our study of this text.
Formations 08.17.2014: NBA Star Acts Like a Role Model, if He Is One or Not
August 10, 2014 by
NBA great Charles Barkley asserted, “I am not a role model” in a 1993 Nike commercial. “I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.”
Formations 08.10.2014: Scientists Discover Dogs Get Jealous
August 3, 2014 by
Scientists from the University of California recently concluded that dogs get jealous of other dogs. The team built a stuffed toy dog that could bark, wag its tail, and even whine. When real dogs observed their owners making a fuss over the toy, they became angry.
Formations 08.03.2014: The Dangers of Success
July 27, 2014 by
Most business owners assume that success comes in a series of steps, with each success leading their business to new heights. What many overlook, however, is that each new achievement also produces counterproductive forces that must be addressed.
Uniform 07.27.2014: Feeling Left Out
July 20, 2014 by
Because I don’t belong to a tradition that incorporates the speaking of tongues into worship or private devotion, it’s tempting for me to skip over Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14. “That doesn’t apply to me,” I want to say.
Uniform 07.20.2014: Steadfast in Temptation
July 13, 2014 by
In our passage, Paul writes some of the most frequently misquoted words in the Bible. Has anyone ever told you that God won’t give you more than you can bear? If so, they probably said this when you were going through a really tough time.
Uniform 07.13.2014: Knowing God through Love
July 6, 2014 by
I come from a family that highly values education. Both of my parents are teachers, as were both of my maternal grandparents. Advanced degrees are scattered throughout the family. For my siblings and me, going to college was never a choice to make but an expectation to fulfill.
Uniform 07.06.2014: A Choice that Blesses Others
June 29, 2014 by
It’s tough to find a balance between honoring our free will to make choices for ourselves and taking responsibility for how each choice might affect another person. Especially in the United States, we take pride in independence and self-sufficiency.
Uniform 06.29.2014: Finding Unity in a Divided World
June 22, 2014 by
We live in a world that urges us to take sides. Based on these labels, and often little else, we decide whether or not we should associate with people. We let the sides we take in public debates define who we are.