Recently, I read a good book called Do Hard Things, by brothers Alex and Brett Harris. (It also has a foreward by Chuck Norris. I know better than to cross Chuck Norris.) It’s about rebelling against society’s low expectations of…
Warning: Adult Content
Pane in the Glass
I was sitting in one of the churches I review on my blog a few months ago admiring the intricacy of the stain glass windows. They are in 99.99% of our churches. All are absolutely beautiful and add subtly but importantly to…
Should the Church Apologize?
As if often the case, Pope Francis was the subject of sensationalist headlines recently. Many of them read something along the lines of: “Pope Francis Says Catholic Church Must Apologize to Gays.” The headline is meant to give a very…
Freedom’s Call
If you are an American I suppose that you never really think of yourself as not free. That gift is the one identifiable privilege we all share in common, despite other differences. Here in the USA we can say, do…
Stormy day at the beach?
Does a dark cloud threaten to spoil your day at the beach? What struggles and sadness are you experiencing? What victories and joys are you celebrating? Sometimes we hesitate to give our all to enjoy the high times because we…
The Fourth of July and a Revolutionary Approach to the Bible:
In the days when states were still “the colonies” and men wore powdered wigs, a new way of thinking captured the intelligentsia of the western world. “The miracle stories in the Bible and the lives of the saints may be…
Restore and Reactivate
Sunday Readings for July 3, 2016 the 14th Sunday of the Year To some, being Italian-American means overindulging in pasta and joking about tough guys. But being Italian means being heir to a rich tradition stretching back before the Caesars….
The Difference between the Old and the New
I’ve always found today’s Gospel reading difficult to understand. I felt as though Jesus was light years ahead of John’s disciples, and even his own for that matter. Then some thoughtful soul explained that, no, you really can’t fast in…
Bearing Fruit
The New Testament is filled with references to bearing fruit. Scripture tells us that good trees bear good fruit and bad trees do not, and that branches that don’t bear fruit are pruned away. Remember what happened to the fig…
We’re home to stay!
Editor’s Note: This is an updated post from the original which ran on June 22, 2016. Tom Peterson is living proof how one man’s “yes” can change the world. He could have ignored the Holy Spirit’s promptings or brushed off…