At this point, I’ve been pastoring for a while. In fact, compared to most pastors my age, I have quite a bit of ministry experience, simply because I started so young!I began leading youth ministry when I was 18 years old. By 21, I was ordained as a pastor by our Baptist church. So, this year marks 20 years of ordained ministry! Over those years, I’ve seen a few things, stepped on far too many lan...  Read More

It was about 2:00 AM. I was very asleep. And my phone started ringing.When I opened my eyes, it took me a second to register what was going on. I squinted at my phone and recognized the name on the screen.We had moved to Boston a couple of years earlier, but I still had close friends in North Carolina. The name on the screen was one of them. I knew I had to answer, but honestly, I half expected it...  Read More

Saying goodbye is an interesting thing. Different cultures do it differently.In the South, goodbyes can be long ordeals that start with a “Bye, y’all,” move to a prayer, and close with a blessing like, “Y’all come back now,” as the whole family stands on the porch waving while you drive to your house 10 minutes down the road.The urban North tends to be almost the opposite. The fast pace of the cit...  Read More

When you think of typical ways of showing love to your significant other, you probably think about flowers, gifts, physical affection, regular communication, date nights, and experiences. Those are good and necessary, but after being married for twenty years, I’ve discovered some unconventional ways to love my wife. Here are a few examples.I put down the toilet seat. When I first got married, I di...  Read More

Let’s talk about utensils in the Jewish Temple. They’re way cooler than you think. What, you’re not immediately engaged? Let me explain.What do you think of when you hear the word holy? Maybe you think of God. Perhaps you think of a saint. Depending on your background, you may think of Mary. Or, if you’re a turophile, maybe you’re thinking about Swiss cheese.In today’s culture, outside of church, ...  Read More

Have you seen those Progressive car insurance ads where Dr. Rick helps people not become like their parents? I get a kick out of them because every day I find myself becoming more and more like my parents. I’ll do something completely out of nowhere and think, “Wow, that was just like my dad.”Those Progressive ads are actually helpful to me because I’m not always sure which things I do are “parent...  Read More

When I was growing up, martial arts movies were all the rage. If it wasn’t Fist of Fury or The Kung Fu Shaolin Master, it was Drunken Master, Enter the Dragon, or quirky classics like Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow. A familiar storyline ran through almost every one of these films: a novice, crushed by opponents, seeks out a legendary master to learn how to fight back. Often, the student arrives driv...  Read More

More than a generation ago, some missionaries went to a little place in South Africa and shared the gospel. Like most missionaries, they were simply trying to be faithful, and somewhere along the way, the grandparents of a young man named Shaun Pillay heard the good news and believed.Shaun grew up in South Africa as a third-generation Christian. He eventually went into ministry himself, studying a...  Read More

Several years ago, my wife Allie and I took a trip to San Francisco. One of the things I had always wanted to see was the giant redwoods, so we crossed the Golden Gate and explored Muir Woods.Since elementary school, I had heard about the majesty of these trees. Some redwoods can reach over 300 feet into the air, with trunks so massive it takes multiple people holding hands to reach around them.Wh...  Read More

I’ll be honest: when I was in history class, I usually thought the most important question was, "Is this going to be on the test?" But as I got older, I realized history isn't just about memorizing dates and names; it’s about understanding people. And one story from the fourth century shows us something powerful about the impact of a life lived differently.In the fourth century, the Roman emperor ...  Read More

The Red Sox are doing it again. They’re giving me hope.I’m not sure how closely you follow baseball, but the Red Sox started this season with one of the worst records in baseball. It was so bad they fired their longtime manager, Alex Cora. And just my luck, for the first time in my New England life, I decided to bite the bullet and pay for NESN so the family could enjoy some baseball. Instead, we ...  Read More

The Pony Express is one of those romantic pieces of Americana. I picture cowboys racing across the frontier at full speed, carrying saddlebags full of letters through deserts, mountains, and dangerous territory.The Pony Express was created because it took so long for mail to travel across the country. A letter from New York to California could take weeks or even months to arrive. The Pony Express ...  Read More