The Most Scandalous Defamation in History
Satan's oldest lie isn't really about us. It's a smear campaign against God's character, one that's been running since Eden. A look at who He actually is, versus the "hard man" we've been sold.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8, ESVA Tree Planted By Water
Writings from a dude who's just trying to follow Jesus, orbiting around Jeremiah 17:7-8.
Where I'm at: I'm a proud father of two, who's experienced the goodness of God this year, and started to find my footing in a new church family. Rebuilding, slowly, but beautifully!
Begin here
Five writings, in reading order, if you want the shape of the whole thing before you wander.
- 1Don’t Sweat the Ordinary
This is where the blog gets its name: a promise that a tree planted by water doesn't panic when the heat comes, written early, hopeful, and in the middle of an ordinary week.
- 2Bearing Fruit in Drought
Two years into a cross-country move and a young church, I name a season of spiritual dryness for what it is instead of pretending it isn't there.
- 3We Weren’t Made for Rest, Rest was Made for Us
Years of never stopping catch up with me here, in a candid list of what burnout actually looks like from the inside.
- 4A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break
The fullest telling of the decade: church planting, my father's death, a brain tumor, and a divorce I never wanted, held together by one verse about a bruised reed that doesn't get broken.
- 5Are We Known by Jesus?
Writing again after the hardest years, I ask a simpler question than I used to: not what am I doing for God, but does He actually know me.
Verses I keep coming back to
Recent writings
Nothing Good Falls From Nowhere
Coffee, sunlight, a good night's sleep: we assume these things just happen. They don't. Twenty-four ordinary and not-so-ordinary gifts, traced back to the one Source behind all of them, and Augustine's centuries-old attempt to put words to a God too big to contain.
The Narrow Gate Runs Through the Grocery Line
I've been a professing Christian for 20 years, and I'm just now learning what it looks like to live out the two greatest commands. Doing religious things turned out to be a lot easier than loving people, and Jesus keeps making that difference impossible to miss.
God Still Speaks to Us
A stranger in Costa Rica gave me a word from God that sent me to Guatemala instead of the escape I thought I wanted. Three takeaways on being spoiled by grace, growing mature in Spirit and not just Truth, and where He might be redirecting me next.
Are We Known by Jesus?
It's possible to do all the right things and still not truly know Jesus, or be known by Him. A reflection on the difference between striving in the flesh and actually abiding in a relationship with Him.
What Does the Bible Actually Say About Hell?
Hell is a subject most of us, even most pastors, avoid. But Jesus talked about it more than He talked about heaven. A look at what the Bible actually says about Hades, Gehenna, and the lake of fire, and why it should change how we live.
From the archive, this season
9 years ago this month, I wrote:Bearing Fruit in DroughtI have had a long hiatus from blogging. It has been a busy summer. I think if you made a word cloud of my life, BUSY would certainly dominate the landscape. It’s been (mostly) good busy though. We have moved twice and the kids have been in 3 schools in the last year. We finally…