Category: General

Our lives are largely transactional. Obviously in the marketplace: I receive goods and services in exchange for money. In a more interpersonal way, all communities function in part as a gift economy, in which goods or services are given with the expectation that the receiver will give back someday. For example, one of my primary…

“Christianity is just a bunch of rules.” This is a common refrain from people who have left the church or never joined. Perhaps they grew up in a church that had a legalistic mindset. Perhaps their parents used God as a threat to get them to behave. Perhaps they have never been to a church…

I listen to audiobooks while I run, drive, and do other mindless tasks. I listened to two audiobooks recently that form a nice pair: Calling Bullshit, by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West, and Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Bergstrom & West are academics; Gladwell is a journalist but, in this book, draws pretty heavily…

This week, serious allegations were brought against a colleague who I trusted and respected. I will not link to the stories about them, so as not to pile on. However, they started me thinking about our public and private personas and the nature of evil. At almost the same time, RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries)…

Recently, Phelps County Focus ran an excellent article about Marie Allen. Marie is the Lead Pastor of the Vineyard in Rolla, and has been a major factor behind the success of The Mission. She is retiring from the Mission’s board of directors so that, among other things, she can focus on the Vineyard’s next big…

Last night, I picked up groceries from Walmart. I love it: my family and I can put things in the cart over the course of the week, and then place an order that I just pick up. The Walmart associates who do the shopping are pretty good about finding substitutions, and the ones who load…

According to a 2016 psychological study, an effective apology has six components: an expression of regret for the offense an explanation of why the violation occurred an acknowledgment of responsibility for the offense a declaration of repentance an offer of trust repair a request for forgiveness The authors studied apologies that comprised just one of…

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher and author of the bestseller The Power of Now. In his work, he quotes from many traditions. Just as in Stillness Is the Key, a book I wrote about recently, Tolle makes the point that all traditions ultimately teach the same thing: live in the present. 14 Now after John…

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet? I have, in a way. A few days ago, I went through an annual planning exercise from Monk Manual, You Are Here. The principle behind the Monk Manual is that who we are and what we do are intimately linked. If you are not intentional about what…

As you may know, I am the advisor for Common Call Campus Ministry. Below is the message I shared with them earlier today. Merry Christmas! This has been quite a year and quite a semester, one unlike any other. I would like to share just a few thoughts with you. The start of a new…