Casual Fridays

On Wednesday, London saw the deadliest terrorist attack they have seen in 12 years. Three people were killed in addition to the man responsible for the act. At times like this I find myself asking lots of questions. How could someone do something like this? What have we done in our world to cause someone to feel the way he must have felt? How can we keep things like this from happening in the future? Will these kinds of terrible acts ever end?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Do you know who St. Patrick was or why we have a day to celebrate in his honor? St. Patrick is credited as being the first […]

During the season of Lent it is a common practice in the Church for people to fast, or give something up. John Wesley was the founder of Methodism and he was a huge proponent of fasting. In fact, he wrote an entire sermon on it – “Sermon XXVII: Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount”. In this sermon he broke down the biblical reasoning for fasting, the end goals of fasting, and the proper ways to fast.

My grandmother was a huge part of my life. My brother and I spent our days with her during the summer while my parents were at work and she helped to raise us and make us into the people we are today. She entered into God’s Kingdom eternal last week after battling dementia for several years, and she will be deeply missed. I look forward to being reunited with her one day.

Ash Wednesday seems like such a strange day in the Church for modern people. Why do we rub ashes on our foreheads? Where do these ashes come from? Why do we give something up for Lent? Is this holiday ever mentioned in the Bible? These are all valid questions that we ask every year as we approach the start of the season of Lent.

I have been re-reading a book this week called The New Gold Standard. It’s all about the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and how they have created their legendary culture of hospitality and customer service. As they talked about how they create and maintain that culture it seems that everyone within the company points to one main concept as the primary factor – their “Credo”.

This morning I met with our “Under Construction: Building Better Dads and Husbands” Community Group. We started a new study today on the five major world religions. One of the members of our group kicked this series off and led us in a discussion about Hinduism. I found it fascinating to see the parallels that could be drawn between Hinduism and Christianity. The commitments that we both have to peace, wisdom, unity, and blessing life was striking. It’s not that I thought Hinduism promoted violence or ignorance, but it was interesting to see just how much we really have in common. I think that’s probably true about many other religions or groups of people if we choose to look at what we have in common rather than what makes us different.

Earlier this week I was preparing for my Wednesday Night Alive class on the Ten Commandments. Each week we are looking at a different commandment and what it means for our lives today as Christians. This week we were looking at the commandment, “Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord.”

On Tuesday I got to celebrate my 27th birthday. Are you someone who likes to celebrate your birthday in big fashion or would you prefer if nobody even knew it was your birthday and you could avoid the birthday song being sung to you while everyone stares at you awkwardly? I probably fall somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I’m not sure there is anything worse than having a room full of people look at you while they sing “Happy Birthday” to you off key. Fortunately, that didn’t happen to me this year! On the other hand, I also think it’s important to take every opportunity we get in life to celebrate the gift of living another day or another year.

Today is an historic day in our nation as we inaugurate our 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. I know for some who are reading this, that is cause for celebration and hope. I know for others who are reading this, that is cause for concern and questions. There may even be some households where all of these feelings are represented under one roof.