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Pope Francis, in a response to whether or not ecumenism is a priority for him:

For me, ecumenism is a priority. Today, there’s the ecumenism of blood. In some countries they kill Christians because they wear a cross or have a Bible, and before killing them they don’t ask if they’re Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholic or Orthodox. The blood is mixed. Read More “"Ecumenism of blood." Powerful Words From Pope Francis on Christian Unity”

When you need really focus in to write that sermon, finish that blog post, complete a project, or get administrative tasks out of the way, do you just turn on Pandora and get to work?

Turns out, popular music in written to connect with you on conscious level (emotions and thoughts) so it can actually be a distraction!

Music service Focus@Will promises to deliver music that helps you get in the zone and get more done, without distractions. Read More “Level-Up Your Concentration, Get More Done With Focus@Will”

Social media is clearly a massive blessing to many ministries, but it is also the source of much distraction, idle talk, and even anger. Have you participated in Facebook comments thread about theology lately? It doesn’t take long for it to disintegrate into something much less than Christian love and charity. Here are five ways to regain control of your social landscape and start using it instead of it using you. Read More “5 Ways to Keep Social Media from Taking Over Your Life (And Ministry)”

We were driving to church; it was a fairly typical Sunday morning. I was thinking about new improvements to this site, the worship set I would be leading during the service, the new drum we’d bought to give some more energy to our acoustic sound. I was feeling a bit nervous about singing some fairly new songs and working with the drum for only the second time. It was a cold night for Phoenix the night before, down in the fifties. The morning air was still chill enough for me to start the heater in our car.

I pulled up to a stoplight near Mountain View and 7th Street, the outskirts of one of the less great parts of central Phoenix. There is a large homeless population in this area that begs for money at lights while camping out at abandoned gas stations. Today a younger-than-normal blonde woman stood by the side of the road with the typical cardboard sign and grocery cart full of old clothes and bags. She stretched our her arm to wave, and I noticed her hands were dirty. She’d been on the street a while. She shuffled alongside the road, eyes tired and downcast.

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-2716″ alt=”Appropriately, Jensen means “God is gracious.” Photo by Amber Joy Photography” src=”https://nathanrhale.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/a44e88770a.jpg” width=”300″ height=”279″ /> Appropriately, Jensen means “God is gracious.” Photo by Amber Joy Photography

My three-year-old son Jensen asked–as he often–does, what her cardboard sign said. “It says she needs help,” I said, as I tried not to think about it too much. She probably got herself into this mess anyways…she has a sweatshirt on…it’s not too cold out…

“Daddy?” he asked, “can we help her?”

“Not today,” I replied, “we don’t have anything for her in the car right now.” After all, I didn’t have any cash in the car. I also knew that if I pulled over, I’d be late for church. And I needed to get there to make sure the new drum was set up and that we had the right songs to project on the screen.

* * *

In church, I felt like I should pray for this woman, and as I did so, I felt as if God just punched me in face. Repeatedly. I realized the depth of my sin and my brokenness in that moment.

No I didn’t have cash, but I could’ve bought her a hot meal at a drive through. That would’ve meant I’d have been late to “worship” rehearsal though. Worship is way of life, Nathan. Not just three songs on Sunday morning. When. Will. You. Get It?

Oh, and I did have something for her in the car. Bibles. Two or three, in fact. Purchased just to give away.

I hesitated to give them to the homeless woman because I always like to provide some “practical” assistance (read: cash or food) along with them. Tangible assistance is absolutely important, of course, but in my mind my options were limited to cash or food on hand, and I had neither of those so…Better for her to not receive a Bible at all than to get it with no money. Right.

How little faith I have.

How deep is my prejudice and dehumanization of those with less than me. I’d like to think I’m a compassionate, empathetic person, but I acted as if money is the solution to her problems. As if.

As if a kind word, a smile, eye contact, a simple prayer and respect for another human being is worthless and wasted on this person if I can’t just throw some money at them.

I preach about “Jesus is enough” all the time on this site and as part of other ministries. But this Sunday, Jesus wasn’t enough of a reason for me to pull over and show some kindness to someone in need.

God I believe; help my unbelief.

The truth? My lack of compassion was not enough for the homeless person on the corner. Me getting to church on time was not enough for her. Me ignoring God’s voice in the sincere desire of my little boy to help another human being was not enough.

But Jesus really is enough. I had the opportunity to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus, and I elected to take a pass.

Christ, forgive my hardness of heart.

Christ, have mercy on me.

I’ve been thinking this week a lot about contentment, and how I seem to focus on ridding myself of desires for material things. This is all well and good, after all the Bible tells us:

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV)

Yet, we often forget to also cultivate contentment with our circumstances as well, not just our financial situation.

You may be too busy, you may be in pain, you may be in a place you don’t want to be in, you may be dealing with an avalanche of relational issues and heartache. You may be facing slander or a scenario where it seems there is no good decision to be made.

Can you and I be content, even in the midst of it all? 

“…for those who love God all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28, ESV)

Yes, because Jesus is present with and for us in every situation.

And he is enough.

The Charismatic movement has been (often rightly) taken to task for excesses, abuses, and cultural flaws that obstruct the Gospel. Nevertheless the Charismatic renewal throughout the world has been in my estimation a mostly positive movement, and has given us a language and theology to describe the more experiential aspects of the Christian faith. Although in past I have been hesitant to use the label, I now embrace charismatic as a word that accurately describes one aspect of my faith practice. Here are three reasons I still consider myself a charismatic Christian:

1) I believe in mystical experiencs and the value of contemplative practice. I believe that as result of the merits of Christ and gift of the Holy Spirit, it is possible and desirable for Christians to have direct, unmediated experiences of God. These kind of experiences include visions, dreams, “promptings,” and deepened awareness of the presence of and union with God. I also find great value in practicing the Spiritual Disciplines as means to strengthen my consciousness of the Divine and open myself to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit on my heart. Mystical experiences have been part of Christianity from the beginning–whole passages and books of the Bible were written as a result of such things. Many passages also detail the kind of direct experience I am talking about (cf. Acts 9:10, Acts 11:5, Rom. 8:16, Rom. 9:1, etc).

2) I believe all of the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit are available to contemporary Christians. I am as-yet unconvinced that the so-called “sign gifts” of speaking in tongues (“private prayer language”) and prophetic speech (“words of knowledge”) and healing have ceased for any compelling theological reason. I know too many Godly, sane, people that have experienced these things to simply dismiss them as “emotionalism” or “a psychological phenomenon.” I see God using people with these gifts for his glory all over the world and in many corners of Christendom. (cf. 1 Cor. 14:5, Matt. 12:33, etc).

3) I believe ritual can and should be infused with emotional response. A wonderful part of Charismatic culture is its emphasis on expressiveness in worship. Biblical worship is full of emotion (just see the Psalms!) including kneeling and raising hands, falling prostrate, clapping and shouting (cf. Ezra 5:9, Rev. 4:10, Psalm 47:1, etc). Yes, our corporate worship should be full of rich theological content, but that doesn’t mean it simply must be reserved in character. Proper reverence does not preclude an authentic response to the Holy Spirit that is deeply and openly heartfelt.

Although I understand and appreciate the point of view of my ceasationist brothers and sisters (at one point I was very close to committing to the position), I cannot reconcile it with the Scriptures or the witness of the Church throughout history.

The Holy Spirit continues his work now as he began it at the foundation of the world: revealing mysteries, changing hearts, healing the broken, and all to point to Jesus.

To reach satisfaction in all
desire its possession in nothing.

To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing.

To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing.

To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.

To come to the knowledge you have not
you must go by a way in which you know not.

To come to the possession you have not
you must go by a way in which you possess not.

To come to be that which you are not
you must go by a way in which you are not.

When you turn toward something
you cease to cast yourself upon the all.

For to go from all to the all
you must deny yourself of all in all.

And when you come to the possession of the all
you must possess it without wanting anything.

Because if you desire to have something in all
your treasure in God is not purely your all.

~ John of the Cross

Be hungry for God and nothing else. Find good in things not for their own sake, but because they express the goodness of God.

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39, ESV)

…confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16, ESV)

You know the situation. You’re with a friend, also a believer, and they begin to confide in you. Things aren’t going as they hoped…maybe they’ve had a rough day, they’re concerned for the health of a loved one, or they’re facing a particularly tough decision.

You offer some kind words of advice, the best stuff you can think up on the spot. Maybe you share a story about how you’ve gone through something similar. You do your best to sympathize, empathize, and encourage.

Finally the conversation begins to wrap up, and you say, “I’ll be praying for you” and that’s that (if we’re honest with ourselves we might realize we often forget these promises).

But what if that wasn’t the end? What if you made it your habit to vocalize your prayer, right then and right there?

“Heavenly Father, thank you that are with my friend. Give them guidance in this situation, Lord. Protect them and reveal yourself to them by your Holy Spirit. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.”

These short, sweet, to-the-point “in the moment prayers” are powerful! Not only do they help to keep you in the habit of praying without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17), but you let the person you’re speaking with know you’re serious about bringing their concerns before the Lord. I think making space in our day for these prayers honors our friends and God as an act of service and love.

Honestly, I think our conversations and relationships would be transformed if we stopped talking about prayer so much, and started actually praying together like this more. When we come before God with a sincere heart, we tend to be open and vulnerable, which naturally strengthens trust between those praying together. Spontaneous prayer like this reminds us of the continual presence of God, and intentionally seeks him out in every situation.

Don’t always wait until the end of your conversation to pray. Practice the presence of God by acknowledging and inviting him at the beginning.

I’ll never forget when a good friend of mine introduced me to this practice by simply doing it…he just started praying right as we began our conversation! I had begun our talk by sharing about a choice I was having trouble with, and he immediately responded with something like this:

“Heavenly Father thanks for being here with us. Help me to know how to help Nathan, and guide our conversation in a way that is pleasing to you.”

What an encouraging, humbling way to focus our time together.

So next time you have one of those conversations with a friend desperately in need of help that only God can give, don’t just stand there. Don’t simply talk about praying.

Pray.

I was changing the strings on my guitar late at night and came up with this little chord progression to help sooth my kids to sleep. Started singing softly, and this is what came out! After they fell asleep, I set up a mic in the living room and pressed record.

I’ve got one other song I’ve written (but not decently recorded) in a similar vein, so stay tuned for more like this in the future.

I’ve been looking for a Bible that’s not too big or too small, but that’s rugged enough to take camping and traveling without a lot of worry. I’m definitely not going to take my super-nice ESV Legacy to the beach! The problem is that most Bibles just can’t stand up to dirt or moisture of any kind. The good news is that the ESV Waterproof Bible from Bardin Marsee Publishing isn’t most Bibles.

My brother-in-law got me the ESV New Testament and Psalms with the camouflage cover (pictured). Excited and nervous, I decided to put the Bible to the test immediately. I unpackaged the Waterproof Bible and let my kids take it for a spin in the tub. Yes, you read correctly–I let my toddler and pre-schooler test the Bible in a bath full of soapy water.

I was impressed that all I had to do was let the book dry for a few hours, and it was like new! I brought it in to the office the next day and my coworkers could hardly believe it had been practically immersed the night before.

The secret is that the Waterproof Bible isn’t actually made out of paper, but rather plastic.

The plastic pages make sure that water and mud are no problem. They are also quite tear-resistant, and completely opaque. You know how Bible paper is often annoyingly see-through? Not a problem with the ESV Waterproof Bible. In fact, this feature means the text is amazingly clear and easy to read (although it is in a two-column setting). You can even write in it with a pencil.

The only real trade off here is that the pages in the Waterproof Bible are necessarily thick, so the New Testament with Psalms is about the thickness of most full-text thinline-Bibles. A Waterproof Bible with the whole Old and New Testaments will probably be a little inconvenient to carry around in a backpack or purse all the time.

If you’re not an ESV fan like me, you can get the Waterproof Bible in KJV, NKJV, NIV, NLT, and Spanish editions. There also a few cover designs to choose from, depending on the translation.

I love that I finally have a Bible that I throw in a backpack and not worry about. Look, the Waterproof Bible is no match for my Pitt Minion or Legacy in terms of aesthetics or craftsmanship, but it’s amazingly readable and can take a beating (or a dunk in a river). I’m sure I’ll get many years of use out it.