Tried With Fire

I'm sharing a post at Out of the Ordinary today, a modified version of one I wrote earlier this month on this blog. When I was looking for a picture to add to the post, I found the one above at Wikimedia Commons. The photographer named it "The door that opens when you get older." That seemed very fitting. Life becomes harder and more complicated when you grow old. I'm not all the way there yet, but my parents are. We moved my mom into memory care a couple months ago, and I will be heading back in a few weeks to move my dad into assisted living. The packing and physical move were the easy part. The hard part is the emotional and mental adjustment to living in a new place, which is difficult for anyone let alone for someone with Alzheimer's or frail health. I'm thankful for my parents and how God has kept them, but I also want to use this situation to learn  now  before it becomes harder to do so. On the drive home, I shared with my daughter some lessons I ...

In the light of the controversy surrounding Paige Patterson  and his comments on abuse and women, I am sharing this slightly edited post from 2014 that I wrote for domestic violence awareness month.  It's funny how the things we care about the most are often the most painful and emotionally exhausting to put into words. How do you encapsulate an issue that touches theology, history, and culture? How do you write about something so personal and not dredge up memories and feelings that you'd rather consign to oblivion? I wrote drafts that are probably too volatile to be published because they tipped a few sacred cows that we cling to as conservative Christians. It helped to get those thoughts out of my head, but I'm still frustrated at the huge blind spot that the evangelical church seems to have - a sort of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about domestic abuse within its walls. After much research, thinking, and praying, I am convinced that domestic violence...

I wrote this nearly two years ago prior to the T4G 2014 conference. A shadow was cast upon that event because of an alleged coverup of child molestation by the leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The person in question was convicted, so the abuse was real. However, there were still unanswered questions about how the situation was handled and the lack of accountability of those in authority. Here we are two years later with another T4G conference slated in April, and recently a pastor "confessed" to a sexual "incident" (his words) with a minor when he was her youth pastor. This was statutory rape. Period. The response of his church to his "confession" was a standing ovation. As a friend put it, "Don't people realize this was a crime ?!"  I wish I didn't have to ask these question, but I will ask them again. Several years ago, I would have been thrilled to attend Together 4 the Gospel. I had no pretensions to being a pastor. I woul...

(In light of the #MeToo hashtag and October being domestic violence awareness month, this is an update of a post from 2 years ago with a few edits and additions.) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27 If you asked me to define the sanctity of life, here it is: Since all human beings are made in the image of God, all human beings should receive dignity, respect, and the right to life. This applies to the born and unborn. This applies to male and female. This applies to all people regardless of their race or ethnicity. The sanctity of life is not based on the ability to function independently or even the value with which a person contributes to society at large. The sanctity of life is an issue of  personhood  because identity is individual and never subsumed by another person regardless of the relationship. I think this definition covers what most evangelical Chr...

I posted this two years ago in honor of Memorial Day: When my dad was a boy, his family immigrated from southern China to the Philippines. My grandfather was led to preach the gospel and plant a church in the Manila/Quezon City area on Luzon Island. World War II broke out, and the Philippines was ultimately invaded by the Japanese. An airstrip was hidden near their house, and my dad and his younger siblings would watch the planes take off in the morning. They could gauge the state of the war by how many took off and how many returned. It was a difficult and dangerous time. Meanwhile a top Chinese nationalist spy had been sent to the Philippines to gather information for the Allies. The Japanese knew he was there, so he was a hunted man in daily fear of capture and death. Somehow he knew about my grandfather. (But being a spy, he would know these things.) This man was not a Christian, but whenever he could, he would sneak into my grandparent's home and ask my grandpa t...