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Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man - Nicolas Poussin - oil on canvas - 1655 I recently celebrated the 2 Year Anniversary of my baptism. On May 31st, 2015 I was dunked into a lake as a public declaration of my faith in Jesus Christ. Having been baptized as a child, you may wonder why I got baptized again. For me personally, I wanted to symbolize that I have been united with Jesus, I wanted to show outwardly the changes that have been taking place inwardly in my life. For my baptism, I chose this passage of Scripture as my 'baptism verse.' Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)' This verse has significance for me because my path to faith was such a struggle. My early 20s were a very difficult time for me, which I have written about in other posts. However, having come to faith in Jesus, I truly became a new person. I feel like my whole life has changed, I feel like ...

Today in Minnesota, the officer who shot and killed Philando Castile during a routine traffic stop was acquitted on all charges. Click here for the story, from the Washington Post. Typically on this blog, I try to avoid current events. Today I am breaking that rule and writing about this current event because I must say these things. Here are my observations: 1. What amazes me as I pore through the reactions to the verdict on Twitter is that black people aren't surprised. The fact that a police officer who fatally and erroneously shot a black man didn't get convicted doesn't  come as a surprise to people. It is almost expected in the African-American community that they won't get justice in America. This is tragic. Our justice system has to start serving the black community like they deserve. 2. Which brings us to the point of justice in the first place. Justice for Philando Castile wouldn't have been that after he was shot, his killer was convicted of...

In part 1 of this blog post we looked at new things. We all love new things. We looked at the creation story and saw how God had created the earth. In the creation story, God pronounced everything He made good.  Man and woman were created to reflect God's likeness in the world and to dwell in the garden with God in an intimate friendship. When God creates humanity he pronounces us very good. Genesis 1:31a And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  However, sin enters the world and starts to corrupt everything good and very good that God has created. Sin results in a divide, a rift, a separation. As humans, we have fallen out of touch with God. Originally created by God to know and reflect God's character to the world, we have become a people who do not seek God, and do not honor him. We see this pattern of rejecting God time and time again throughout the Old Testament. However, there is also a glimmer of hope given by the Old Testamen...

We like things new. New car. New house. New friends. New year. New baby. New episode. New album. The news. We like new stuff. New things are nice. New things are in excellent condition. New things haven't worn. New things haven't been used. They are fresh, exciting, full of potential. There is something to opening an Iphone or a package when the item is new. I remember being a kid and feeling immense excitement when I would open a new CD. "Wow, I can't wait to hear all the songs on this Chumbawumba album!" This of course, was misguided because the Chumbawumba album was not very good. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that I was super excited to open and play the CD, once I got the ridiculous plastic packaging all peeled off. God also likes new things. You could define the overarching story of the Bible this way: God creates and man destroys, so God brings newness out of the destruction.  The story of the Bible is of the God who...

Well, here's a story from the file of "Things you can't make up." On my drive home today, I spent a lot of time meditating on what it means to show mercy. What kind of actions resemble those of a merciful person? In the upcoming year, I will be taking an unpaid internship, and as a part of that internship, Allison and I have to raise support. We are looking for people to support our mission. In order to help market myself for support raising, I ordered 100 postcards from Vistaprint.com. As I concluded my drive home today and began to turn my car around and park, I saw something. While I was still driving I saw a package sticking up out of my mailbox. I watched a man walk up to my porch, grab the package, and then ride away on a bike he had parked on the corner. Stunned, I park my car and get out, running over to the sidewalk where he was making his escape. I yelled out twice, "Hey!" but he was too far off down the block on his bicycle....