Apprentice 2 Jesus

  • Living in chaos

    I am currently reading through Bonhoeffer the Assassin? by Mark Thiessen Nation, Anthony Siegrist, and Daniel Umbel. They take on what they call the “myth” that Bonhoeffer was an active participant in the plots to assassinate Hitler. Read more

  • Songs for my birthday

    In the past few weeks I’ve noticed a few people post lists of songs for their birthdays. Things like “40 songs for 40 years.” I liked that thought so I compiled my own list. I won’t turn 60 for another year, so this is “59 songs for 59.” Read more

  • Darkness does not win

     4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5, NIV) I have this text in mind as I read through the life of Bonhoeffer. Currently, I am searching out the opinions of those scholars who believed Bonhoeffer was only “assassin-adjacent,” so… Read more

  • How to train pastors

    I am fairly locked into the life of Bonhoeffer right now. I am working through a book, Bonhoeffer the Assassin? by Nation, Siegrist, and Umbel. I read Marsh’s biography of Bonhoeffer and recently finished Life Together by Bonhoeffer. We need his example in this day for our cultural Christianity. Read more

  • To know the WHY

    One verse I come to over and over that still challenges me: He made known his ways to Moses,    his deeds to the people of Israel (Ps. 103:7, NIV) Read more

  • The healing place of Christmas

    Peter Wehner’s piece for Christmas is beautiful. Jesus came through a family full of brokenness and dysfunction. That is significant for each of us and will hopefully move us past the perfect postcard pictures we’re flooded with in this season. Read more

  • Quiet, prophetic words

    There are moments. They seem like accidents. At the time, they may seem obvious, but get just past that moment and not note it, there is sometimes regret at missing the opportunity to pay a little more attention. Read more

  • The place of joy

    It hit me with the force of joy. Happiness is what we experience as we celebrate the achievements of the self — winning a prize. Joy is what we feel when we are encompassed by a presence that transcends the self. We create happiness, but are seized by joy — in my case by the… Read more

  • Three activities I need to help me flourish

    I have undoubtedly posted this before, but I sure need this reminder I found in a journal I am about to close out. It’s from Eugene Peterson’s book, Reversed Thunder, and speaks to how we can live in the political chaos of our time. These are needed reminders as we close out this year. Read more

  • The image of God in others

    “I can never know in advance how God’s image should appear in others. That image always takes on a completely new and unique form whose origin is found solely in God’s free and sovereign act of creation. To me that form may seem strange, even ungodly. But God creates every person in the image of… Read more