Faith. What is it? I’ve been walking with Jesus for 35 years now (sometimes not so well) and I am still struggling to find better language to speak of this thing called the Christian life. Faith is certainly belief. It is trust. But it must be more. And it isn’t just “belief in” – read “intellectual assent to” – a set of theological statements written in a creed somewhere. That’s not personal, and one of the distinguishing characteristics of Christian life is the ability to have a...

One of my favorite Sunday comic strips from my early adult years was Berkeley Breathed's Outland . Featuring Steve, Bill the Cat, Opus the penguin and others. One particular strip stands out in my mind. Steve, Bill, and Opus are sitting in their underwear on their outdoor couch (don't ask me – that's just what they did) drinking beer and eating Hostess Ding-Dongs. Steve is reading the newspaper and smoking a cigarette. The headline on the newspaper front says something about a meteor bouncing...

I remember days at the hospital where I would go down to the birthing center and rejoice with a family and praise God for the birth of a new child, and then go up to ICU and be with a grieving family who was with a loved one who was within minutes of dying. You know the days. You get the call from the lawyer in the morning that you've been left an outrageously large sum of money by your eccentric aunt. And then you get the call from the doctor in the afternoon that you have stage IV...