Stomach acid burned Mikael’s throat as he vomited. How many people had noticed he had come to church hungover? Mikael just wanted to belong. So, he began partying and drinking with friends. If you could’ve met him back then and somehow seen his future, you’d be surprised to learn that...

“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34). These words have often unsettled me. I understand the first part, “Father, forgive them.” But then comes, “They don’t know what they’re doing”? Really, Jesus? Jesus sees not only their actions but also their...

What do you call a person who demands that all attention be centered on them? A toddler? A teenager? God? There’s a theological picture of God that frames Him as essentially the biggest egomaniac in the universe. And if you’ve ever wondered if that might actually be true, you're not...

When my brother Nick was around six years old, he had a problem with saying things he didn’t mean. And he would go hard. For example, one time he told me, “I wish you weren’t my sister.” She marched me, suitcase in hand, into Nick’s room and announced that his...

Deconstruction is a scary term for some believers. I think it’s because they equate it with deconversion. According to Barna research,1 though, roughly one-third of practicing Christians relate to the idea of deconstructing their faith. That means, roughly a third of faithful, church-going Christians have, to some degree, realized some...

The morning air is cool, still heavy with the hush of dawn. The desert stretches in every direction, dry and rugged, its dormant sands waiting for the heat of the day to rise. Inside the tent, the silence is different — thicker, heavier. You take a breath. The lamb shifts...

For my eighteenth birthday, my mom gave me a card that read, “I used to live each day as though it were my last. But people got tired of hearing me scream, ‘I’M GONNA DIE!!! I’M GONNA DIE!!!’ Hope your birthday’s a scream.” Funnily enough, that pretty much described the...

Dear Abraham, Kill your only son. God. Let's face it—that's a tough Bible story to swallow. At face value, it assaults the very idea that God is love. Or does it? New Testament scripture offers insight into this Old Testament mystery. John, for example, recorded a parallel of God’s call...

"We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). Whoever you are, whatever your struggles and temptations may be, sweet victory is yours for the taking. Right now! All you need do is appreciate, appropriate and act upon what already belongs to you in the person of...

“Ellen White said…” Those are three apparently innocent words that have been used and abused with much zest and confidence. They have been known to strike dread and incite rebellion in the hearts of some. But why? Is it in reaction to Ellen White’s message or because of what people...

It was a crisp winter day, and snow blanketed the quaint landscape surrounding me. Bright rays of light sparkled off the fresh snow that had fallen the previous night. Tall evergreens could be seen just about wherever one looked, and the rich smell of these majestic trees filled the air...

Elihu exemplifies one of the major reasons why we might not listen to what someone has to say about God. Young and obscure, Elihu presents a testimony that carries little weight among many intellectual greats. This may be one reason why God has employed farmers, shepherds, fishermen and even children...

There are traits and talents latent within you that can only be brought to active expression when you are in healthy, honest relationships. By remaining in destructive relationships, you are suppressing your unborn potential. I recently posted the above idea on my Facebook page. In response, a number of people...

The Bible is filled with agricultural symbolism as a means of depicting God’s grand and glorious purpose for humanity (Matthew 13). God is in the business of growing things—a new crop of humans, to be exact (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). Human beings, like a farmer’s crop, move through a growth process...

When it comes to metaphors of God’s love, Fathers often get the spotlight. They no doubt communicate God’s love in an irreplaceably unique way. But Scripture tells us that it takes both genders to understand the fullness of who God is (Genesis 1:27) and God actually compares Himself to mothers...

What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? What does that look like? I recently asked these questions to my youth Sabbath school class. We briefly remembered awkward adolescent stages of our lives in which we weren’t so comfortable and then pondered its definition in the word...

Once I began a sermon by asking the congregation to shout out the first thing that came to mind when they thought of the Second Coming. One guy yelled, “It won't be a secret rapture.” I like to think the goal in preaching the Second Coming shouldn’t be to merely...

Someone sent me a recent article by John Piper, Reformed Baptist preacher and best selling author, titled, Fierce Tornados and the Fingers of God. The opening sentence was as terrible to me as the tornados themselves: “Why would God reach down His hand and drag His fierce fingers across rural...