Embracing Brokenness Book Excerpt

A 2022 Gallup study shows a record-low 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal word of God, down from 24% the last time the question was asked in 2017, and half of what it was at its high points in 1980 and 1984. Meanwhile, a new high of 29% say the Bible is a collection of "fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man." This marks the first time significantly more Americans have viewed the Bible as not divinely inspired than as the…

There was order in the Garden. Everyone had an assignment. Work was part of the creation story. Adam was to tend the garden, with Eve’s help of course. The ground wasn’t cursed so work was a joy. Imagine that! Joy at work. The word joy is not often associated with work. But with no sin in the picture - or anxiety over deadlines or HR issues constantly surfacing - life was good. Very good, in fact. Unfortunately, in our current disposition far too often we attach…

The term “intimacy with God” has become one of those phrases that Christians often toss about in conversation. But how many of us know what it means? I certainly did not, as my story confirms. I was one of the many who confused knowing the Lord with knowing about Him. I knew a lot about God, being an academic and studier of things. But what I found is there is such a huge difference in knowing about, versus knowing intimately. Consider this, American Christians…

So, we bit the fruit . . . then what? We were thrust into a world at war. Paradise was lost. But not forever. Genesis 3: 21-24 describes it in this way: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—' 23 therefore the Lord God…

Political polarization has been a national reality for decades. But during 2020, the messy but often productive middle ground all but disappeared. As a result, Americans were pressured to move further right or further left or be left behind. Lines were drawn where lines were deemed unnecessary in the past. Everything became a point of contention. School closings. School openings. Masks. Protests. With the collapse of the middle, nuance left the building. Without nuance,…

I wondered early in my walk with God - was there a wedding in the Garden of Eden? Then it occurred to me, of course there was. After all Eve came from Adam. They were one before they weren’t. That sounds like a Yogi Berra quote. But it’s true. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Gen 2:18 (ESV) 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took…

Listen So, we bit the fruit . . . then what? We were thrust into a world at war. Paradise was lost. But not forever. Genesis 3:23 describes it: “The Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life”. God is so loving, even in our disobedience, that he…

Listen Political polarization has been a national reality for decades. But during 2020, the messy but often productive middle ground all but disappeared. As a result, Americans were pressured to move further right or further left or be left behind. Lines were drawn where lines were deemed unnecessary in the past. Everything became a point of contention. School closings. School openings. Masks. Protests. With the collapse of the middle, nuance left the building. Without,…

Webster defines hijacked in this way; to steal or to commandeer. Have you ever felt as if your true self, the one that God made you to be, has been commandeered? Stolen? Hijacked? You’re not alone. Ever since that fateful day when we surrendered to an enemy that was hell bent on tricking us into submission, we’ve been struggling to get back that one thing that was stolen from us. That one thing is simply the knowledge of our true self as we desperately look to…