As a parent it can be so frustrating just to get a child to sleep. You’ve worked all day, had some time with the kids, battled your way through bath-and-bedtime. Now you’d just like a few moments of silence to unwind, maybe some adult conversation with your wife or husband. But…

Your precious little one just…Will. Not. Go. To. Sleep.

You bounce, you rock, you pat them on the back. You tell stories and sing songs. You’re exhausted and you realize this is taking an hour. You’re not going to get to watch that movie, read that book, finish that project. Relaxing for part of the evening is definitely out.

This is the fifth night in a row your little one has refused to go to bed. You’re exhausted, bored, frustrated. This is the life of a parent of small children. There have been seasons where this has been every night with my daughter.

Finally, she starts to calm down. She settles into my arms. I keep rocking, afraid to breathe too loudly. Her eyes stop darting to and fro and rest on mine. I wonder what this little person could possibly be thinking. I remember how beautiful she is and pray for her as we continue to gaze at one another. I still don’t know her thoughts but somewhere deep inside I feel that she loves me.

“I love you, baby girl,” I whisper as softly as humanly possible.

Her tiny hand slowly loosens its grip around my thumb as she finally succumbs to slumber. I keep rocking her for a few minutes, because now I don’t care about doing the dishes or writing a blog post.

I just know that in this frustrating, exhausting, mundane moment, there’s also a measure of love that is worth it all.

There’s a lot to be excited about regarding Donald Miller’s new project, Storyline. I just finished the process and I am filled with many emotions: relief, release, energy, gratefulness. Most importantly I have increased focus and clarity about the things I need to do going forward. For a guy like me with a million competing interests, passions, and responsibilities, this is a sort of Holy Grail.

In a nutshell, Storyline is a process by which you examine your own life as story…specifically, a subplot in God’s grand narrative. I love the God-centeredness of this.

One of the best things about the Storyline process is how it gives you useful constraints. For instance, during one module you will examine the different roles that you play in life. This might be husband, wife, leader, mentor, artist, etc. According the psychology behind Storyline, you can really only be concentrating on five roles at a time. This alone was incredibly freeing as I made hard choices about the roles I need to be playing and that I believe God wants me to be filling.

The most important aspect of the process for me was discerning (along with input from my wife and others) my “life theme” or the way God has been consistently working in my life to equip me to help others. This element serves as a help to make decisions (is this action consistent with my life theme?) and can serve as a filter to focus projects (how will my next musical endeavor help others in a way consistent with my life theme?)

My life theme was “To find my identity in Jesus and help others do the same.” If you’re interested, you can see my stories here. This marks the second time that Donald Miller has changed my life for the better.

Check out the promo video:

→ Get Storyline on Amazon

An acquaintance recently linked to article about recent Muslim attacks on Christians in Pakistan. They understandably asked, “In light of events like these, is dialog even possible?” (paraphrase).

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Dialog is always possible, because all things are possible with God.

As we live into our Christ-identity as peacemakers, we must have faith. The Holy Spirit will do his work.

We may indeed die in the process, but we have the hope of resurrection.

Isn’t that the example of the cross, and aren’t we called to follow Jesus there?

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

God does use tradition to communicate his will and make his voice known. Tradition is any teaching, thought, or practice that is handed down or passed on. It could be a ritual, interpretive framework or a specific view on what a passage of Scripture means. The Bible itself is an example of God working through tradition (cf. 2 Thes 2:15), along with the development of doctrines derived from the Bible like the Trinity.

Christians evaluate all traditions (Col 2:8; 1 Thes 5:21) and it is the Holy Spirit that reveals to the community of faith whether or not a tradition is from God. Historically we see the church working in a communal and conciliar way to hear from the Holy Spirit on controversies of faith, from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-21) onward. (more…)

Christian parenting isn’t easy. Several books I’ve read or skimmed recently speak of reminding our children of who they are in Christ…something I’ve not put a lot of thought into until recently. Once I did actually think about it for a bit, it made sense that this is an essential part of discipling our children, just as it’s an essential part of training all who are seeking to grow in their Christian faith.

Core to Christian discipleship is living into one’s new identity as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). It’s something we need to be reminded of often, and I think we forget that our children need these reminders as much as we do. (more…)

Today I was reminded of just how important it is to be motivated by overflowing love from God.

When you preach and teach and lead musical worship, are you loving your congregations and those you are communicating with?

When you engage in one-on-one discipleship, is love fueling your leadership?

Are your efforts to evangelize emerging from a profound love for those that haven’t yet heard the Good News about Jesus?

All effective ministry, and indeed all ministry that is pleasing to God springs from deep wells of love that can only come from him.

Why do anything, if not for love?

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (1 John 2:10, ESV)

Is the kind of “radical” Christianity advocated by the likes of Francis Chan and David Platt just another way for Christians to rely on and emphasize their own efforts over the grace of God? For Anthony Bradley at WORLD the answer may be yes. For those of you that are interested in the new wave of “taking Jesus seriously” I highly recommend reading the article.

Bradley offers two valid criticisms:

1)      There’s a lot of “shaming” going on around “radical” living. Some of the popular books can come across as a guilt trip. While I think this critique holds weight, I’d hate to see the Christian culture throw out what is of value in writings of Platt and Chan.

Although these books are pretty reactionary (as the author notes) they do address what I perceive to be an issue for many Christians: an unwillingness to follow Jesus even when it means being unsafe.

In my own life I’ve been challenged by this thinking. If living in a “safe” neighborhood is outside my means, should I live there? If it is within my means, but would prohibit me from being able give generously to those that hungry in my community, should I live there? These are not questions with black-and-white answers, of course, but they are questions that need to be asked, and I’m afraid many Christians never ask them, much less consider the risky answer as viable. Books like Crazy Love remind us that our faith is not that is adverse to danger and sacrifice.

2)      The push to urban centers weakens the Church elsewhere. We need Christians in cities, no doubt, but I agree with the author that this shouldn’t mean we act as if this is a higher calling than rural or suburban Christian life.

The author talks about a possible solution to the pendulum swings between “comfy Christianity” and “radical Christianity” is a recovery of the doctrine of vocation. Learning about the Lutheran view of vocation was huge for me personally a few years ago, so I get where he’s coming from. I think it has to be part of a larger push toward renewed discipleship in the church at large, though. A doctrine of vocation won’t do it without understanding all of the teachings of Christ along with their implications for doctrine and community life.