Jonathan and I are preaching and writing a series sermons and blogs together for the month of April. There has probably never been a better time to lead our churches in how we are to have God’s wisdom in our relationship with technology/devices. Having said that, this isn’t a new problem. It’s a very old one. Psalm 81:11-12 (NIV) “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn... Read more

“As President, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots, in case they try anything.” -Barack Obama In the Winter of 2007, Dr. Robert Epstein, a renowned psychologist, subscribed to an online dating service where he met a Russian woman named Ivana. They began corresponding with one another, and that eventually led to them writing long letters in which he told her about his... Read more

The first time we evacuated from North Africa, the town we lived in was bombed ten minutes after our plane left the airstrip. In the following months, as we realized that never being able to go back to that place was increasingly likely, I remember thinking, but I was so sure that was where God wanted us. Did we just misunderstand what he was asking of us? But then a year later we were settling into the refugee camps where... Read more

Eva-le was born in the back of a Land Cruiser in the middle of the night just over three years ago. Her mother, Aisha, had begun walking in the dark towards the clinic on the other side of the camp as soon as her labor pains started. This was her fifth baby and the last kid was born in a patch of grass on the side of the road so she knew there wasn’t a lot of time to spare.... Read more

In the striated shade of the crumbling thatched hut I momentarily forget that I have been away for a year. We are sitting on sagging rope beds, our knees touching the small table hammered out of flattened oil canisters which is holding five cups of scalding hot tea. A baby boy, fat and completely naked, sleeps deeply in a nest of cloth to my left and we all subconsciously take turns casually shooing flies from his open mouth as we... Read more

The customs agent riffling through my bag is a woman – tall, stoic, skin like polished obsidian; she is perfectly cool in the pandemonium lapping chaotically around us. Armed soldiers (both government and UN), humanitarian aid workers, teenaged baggage handlers, beggars and politicians are all jostling against us and each other, each wearing expressions ranging from low-grade resentment to acute anxiety to mild boredom. We are all sweating and shuffling to keep our balance, shouting to be heard or straining... Read more

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been reviewing Richard Beck’s great new book Stranger God. It’s a book about learning to welcome the people we wouldn’t normally associate with in the name of, and for the love of, Jesus. And the reason I wanted to review this book on here (outside of it being a great book!) is that I’ve seen how well this actually works first hand. Richard and Jana go to the church I preach at. Almost all the... Read more