Every Other Friday

Two days ago a friend asked what I thought about a land acknowledgement that happened at the beginning of a conference we were both attending. The question was by text so I threw a few sharp jabs before I had to turn my phone off to board my flight home. The problem was that it was an honest question about something that a lot of people care deeply about, and it deserved a more thoughtful response. He’s a very smart guy and really wanted to know what my brand of Christianity

When I was five I had a monkey. Actually, my father gave my mother a monkey for Christmas. Yes, it was a bad idea, and I am sure he suffered terribly for it, but dad was a lot of fun and our home had a lot of moving pieces. It’s also important to know that according to Mark 5 and Luke 8, animals can be demon possessed. Our monkey, Elliott, was a certain case.  Elliot would jump on the table and pick the food off our plates. He would pounce on my grandmother and run off with h

“Satan prowls about seeking whom he may destroy.” You’re not going to find that one on an inspirational calendar, but we need to keep it front of mind because it’s part of the reason that spiritual growth never happens by accident. Spiritual growth takes thoughtful, scheduled effort; but before we unpack that, we need a really important definition: What is spiritual growth? First, being a Christian is not about being saved, going to heaven, or avoiding hell. It is not even ab

My first high school job was delivering pizza for Dominos. I wanted a little extra money and I enjoyed getting out of the house on school nights. We’d usually start with four or five drivers each night, each taking a couple deliveries per run, and we were always crushing to make our thirty minute guarantee. It was an easy job, and we saw a few things knocking on strangers’ doors every night. All that said, I wasn’t a great employee. I just wanted to get back home with a few d