Out of Gas?

In 1981, cell phones are less likely in the future than the giant appliances the Jetsons use to make video calls. Out of the cash I should have shepherded better through the week, and with only a quarter tank in the Cutlass Supreme Coupe my parents handed down to me...

Sorry Not Sorry: Part 1 | Episode 75

Barry begins a conversation about the complexities of repentance and forgiveness and reminds us that we need enough humility to acknowledge that our responses won’t be perfect, but enough faith that we can make a difference as we go about the business of both.  ...

A Reminder

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. …My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” There is more...

Silent Faith, Holy Night | Episode 74

Barry reminds us that while we, as believers, are (hopefully) longing, praying, and yearning for what has not yet arrived in the world, God’s faithfulness has already been at work to bring about our redemption. This was true of his first advent as a babe and will be...

Yes He Does

God told geriatric Abraham he would have a son, and he did. He revealed to Manoah’s wife their son would be holy, and he was. He promised melancholic Hanna she would birth a prophet, and she did. He swore to give Israel a king; they cared for their bitter relative and...

Sent To Be Light

The temple provides setting for all 3 opening accounts in Luke’s gospel—John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’ birth, and young Jesus’ return to Jerusalem without his parents. In the temple, Gabriel announces John’s coming birth to Zechariah, Zechariah and Elisabeth name...

Farm Fresh or Shelf Stable: Part 2 | Episode 73

Barry continues the conversation about how to make sure our faith matures but doesn’t become stale. He reminds us that our ultimate goal is not to have a good relationship with faith, but with the God of our faith that is making us into his image through the help of...

Improvement or Transformation?

Rocking, basking, relaxing on the front porch, she is clearly master of her 2-acre domain; at least, that’s what I extrapolate at 25 bumpy miles-per-hour on the pockmarked road passing along her fence, the path my sub-par GPS has mapped for me on the way to a church...

Farm Fresh or Shelf Stable: Part 1 | Episode 72

Barry talks about the process of and barriers to the maturation of our faith. We want it to be fresh, but not always novel, stable, but certainly not stagnant. When thinking of our spiritual past, we don’t need the same things we needed then, but we do need some of...

People of the Book

The smell of musty paper, the look of newly white or agedly yellow leaves, the whispered sound of a turning page—none of those things affects me like so many (so, so many) of my friends. I don’t know why. I actually admire that sentiment in others; I just don’t have...