Category: Christian Living

  • Katie’s Story

    This week I’m sharing stories of friends whose lives were impacted by Christian camping. Join me in celebrating the Power of Camp. This story comes from a local friend, Katie Dupuis. After my dad left we were super poor. We were also super miserable. My mom was depressed and working 3 jobs, she would lock…

  • The Power of Camp [infographic]

    Click here to download a full-sized version of this graphic. This would look hot on Pinterest. Full-disclosure: I’m not getting paid a red cent for this series. I’m doing this because I believe camp is an important element of ministering to children and teenagers in our country. I invite you to join me in donating $125 to…

  • Camp saved me

    Welcome to Camelot Taking my bag out of the car and heading into the main building was like coming home. Sure, I didn’t live here. But the week I spent at camp each summer was my home base. Inevitably, the hour-long drive south of South Bend to a small, PCUSA camp called Geneva Center was…

  • There are crappy days ahead

    There are crappy days ahead. Reading blogs and Facebook updates and happy tweets from your friends, you might begin to think that you are the only one who has truly awful days. This past week I heard from a friend who told me how wonderful my life is going. “Keeping up with your blog and…

  • How I read the Bible

    It took me a long time to figure out a Bible reading methodology that fit me. I’ve failed at a lot of them. A chapter a day keeps Adam’s Bible away Read it in a year means Adam won’t read it for a year Study it topical means Adam treats it like a tropical disease…

  • You can’t do communion alone

    When I was in middle and high school I spent a lot of time home alone. My mom worked crazy hours and my older brother joined the Air Force when I was in 8th grade. A million nights home alone will lead you past boredom. While I always kept the TV on so I didn’t…

  • The missing simile

    “Am I afraid to take Jesus at his word?” This has been rattling through my head lately as I’ve read the Bible. Love your neighbor as yourself. Yeah well, I guess that depends on how you define the word neighbor. Right Jesus? And what if my neighbor is annoying? I’m off the hook, right? They sold…

  • The sweet cry of lament

    I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing…

  • An Ode to the Unqualified

    Here’s to you, The unqualified. The untrained. The unordained The unordainable. The seminary reject. The mom with no time for seminary. The dude with a job. The family in the pew. The widow in the nursery. The seasoned rookie. The mint veteran. The faithful. What you do goes unrecognized. There’s no sign in the church…

  • The Fulcrum is Jesus

    Sometimes I sit in church with the realization that for a lot of folks they think this is the center point of their walk with Jesus. As if, somehow, the fulcrum of the Christian life is attending a worship service? We’ve been raised (Christian language: Discipled) to make church that “can’t miss” thing of the…