Most families go wrong, each in its own predictably unpredictable way.  Even parents’ best attempts at forming a healthy family usually backfire because of the arbitrary ways humans respond.  Try to be caring and children feel smothered.  Let them roam freely and they feel abandoned.  Model respect and love and children will pick up a perfectionist vibe and conclude imperfections are not tolerated. 

Family is a real challenge.  Family is the place where we long to be most safe, yet it is also where we are most vulnerable and most dangerous.  And most hurt. 

So why should we imagine that it's "good news" that God has a family?

Have you ever heard parents at a ballgame tell a kid who just struck out or missed an easy fly ball, “It’s okay Johnny.”  Such words are meant to comfort, but they do nothing to help Johnny do better next time.  My kids call this kind of empty comfort “baby talk.”  Such a parental attitude doesn’t treat the child as a capable and responsible person, but as a helpless victim of circumstances.  God cares so much that he doesn’t just provide the comfort of “it’s okay,” he also offers guidance, instruction, and wisdom for how to live well. 

One of the reasons the good news gets lost on many people is that a narrow gospel lacks context– especially for people who are far from God or unfamiliar with the story of Jesus.  Proclaiming “Good news!  Jesus died for your sins!” fails to sound like good news when heard by people who lack context.  This would be akin to declaring, “Good news!  Mr. Smith agreed!”  Everyone within earshot of such “news” would wonder, Who is Mr. Smith?  What did he agree to?  With whom did he agree?  What’s this agreement have to do with me?  Is this agreement good for the one sharing the good news or others or everyone? 

Too often the gospel is reduced to the good news that Jesus died for you. While that definition is totally true, it doesn’t seem to tell the whole story.  After all, the angels announced to shepherds the “good news” that a Savior had been born (read Luke’s gospel or watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special if you don’t believe me).  My hunch is that while the gospel certainly is not less than Jesus’ death and resurrection, it very well may be more.

Facebook used to be fun.  But somewhere along the way, we all started using social media to proclaim our own little version of the truth; the gospel the way we see it (and everyone else should see it).  Facebook became our tiny digital pulpit from where we could preach to the choir (who amen with their thumbs-up likes) and try to convert the damned (or at least piss them off). 

I like Martin Luther King Jr., but we celebrate him and his legacy on the wrong day.  Choosing to honor him on the day of his birth the way we do presidents obscures the fact that he is a saint.

Is there more to the world than what you can see, touch, hear? 

Humans are of two persuasions on this question: materialists and spiritualists. 

Unless you’re a college philosophy professor, why should you care about these two views of reality?  Simple: your opinion on this important topic makes a difference in how you live.  I propose the spiritualist view offers a better explanation of reality.  Here are three examples of why that is:

Why do liberals and conservatives disagree so fervently?  The answer is that they see the world very differently.  But how so?  This is one of the important questions Jonathan Haidt not only asks but gives a practical, helpful and interesting response. 

Sometimes I jokingly describe myself as a recovering Southern Baptist.  I’m only half joking.  My take is that many Baptist leaders say they are “conservative” theologically, but it turns out their conservative theology is actually a political calculation.

The reason Russell Moore is one of my favorite people for 2016 is that he is a Southern Baptist leader who actually takes theology seriously.  As the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, he is the spokesman for the public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.  In other words, he helps form the message of what it means to live faithfully as a Christian in today’s world. 

Leon Bridges is a throwback artist whose music echoes the soulful gospel sounds of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, and he pulls this off without coming off as sentimental and without any sense that he’s mimicking the sound of others.  He is his own man, he has his own sound, and his music sounds as fresh in 2016 as it might have in 1966.

I'm going through my list of favorite people for 2016 and this week the focus is on Tom Woods. I came across Woods while searching for the connection between libertarian thought and Christian faith and I find his discussions of these matters thoughtful, challenging and usually entertaining.  Woods made my 2016 list because he’s helped me gain a better understanding of libertarian thought and practice, so let’s talk about libertarianism and its connection to Christianity.

The end of a year brings a certain sense of reflection.  I thought a fun way to end this year would be a list of my favorite people – those folks who’ve inspired, informed, and challenged me in 2016.  I’ll start with my list (today) and then in coming weeks give a short post for each person as to why he/she made my list. 

Last week I attended a great lecture by Tim Keller, a pastor and NY Times bestselling author who also bears a striking resemblance to professor Charles Xavier of X-Men fame.  I don’t think Keller is a mutant, but his communication skills are off the chart.

Keller gave a loving and logical presentation of the gospel followed by an hour of question-and-answer.  However, the final question of the evening left me saddened and a bit disturbed.

We saw lots of sites along the way, but the most talked about, laugh-inducing and overall unforgettable encounter of the entire vacation came less than a day into our road trip.  Somewhere in southern Oregon, near the place where Interstate 5 flirts with the Rogue River (what a great name for a river!), we ended our first day of driving a bit early and enjoyed stretching our legs at a local park.  As we strolled along the river trail we happened upon a wedding reception with a mariachi band, noticed some teens smoking pot, bypassed some very hungry and overly aggressive ducks, and then made the acquaintance of a championship boomerang thrower. 

Publix is building a new grocery store near my kids’ middle school.  The construction is causing plenty of backups as we pressed-for-time parents sit in the carpool line.  While stuck in traffic today, I noticed just how big the grocery store really is.  At least I think it’s a grocery store; it might be a new vehicle assembly building for NASA.  To put it in terms even a New Yorker can understand: it’s huge.

Staring at the enormous supermarket building this morning, I wondered, “Is it just me, or are grocery stores too big?”  Stores are gaining size in order to give us more options, but is this a good thing?

Here’s a shocking revelation: having more choices actually makes us less happy.  Here's why...

No marriage is perfect, but I believe most marriages can be far more alive than they are.  In nearly 25 years of marriage and ministry, I’ve noticed three specific death-dealing habits that suck the soul from a marriage.  Each of these flows from a selfish heart and reinforces selfishness in the marriage.  These are truly deadly habits, so if you want to avoid having a zombie marriage, you need to shoot these habits in the head.

A big reason why I’m not buying a new iPhone is because I’m so grateful for the one I already have.  Gratitude is alike a magical antidote to consumerism, replacing the burn of dissatisfaction for what you don’t have with the sense of okay-ness that comes from savoring what you do have.

Using simple words and sentences equals simplicity, not being simplistic.  You can speak the truth plainly, but you can also lie plainly.  Donald Trump’s success stems in large part from his ability to speak simply, but he tends to say dumb things well.  Trump also tends to use simple, effective speech to talk about himself and say rather troubling things.  On the other hand, Churchill said smart things well.  Be like Churchill.

The Christian message is sometimes hard to make out in the midst of all the other messages floating around.  Marketers, co-workers, friends, family members and even the voice in your head whisper and shout competing messages offered up as “good news.”  But these messages are anything but good.  They may sound logical and worthy of belief at first, but dig below the surface and you’ll find they’re messages of despair.  Here are five of the most tempting false gospels – messages that, if you believe them, will steer you in the completely wrong direction. 

Though not yet an officially recognized condition in the United States, there’s plenty of evidence that IAD is a growing problem.  Studies estimate that 1 in 10 internet users are addicted, meaning they can’t stop the behavior even though it’s harmful.  And overuse is harmful.  It turns out that too much internet will break your brain.