Greed and illicit sex: Would you treat them as equals?

Our visiting professor, Richard Smith, (and my good friend) had us faculty meditate on Paul’s teaching regarding greed. He had us read Col 3:5-7 and Eph 5:3-5. In both passages Paul puts both greed and sex on the same footing: they are both forms of idolatry.
He asked us to consider how greed might infiltrate our lives (yes, even impoverished seminary profs). Do we, [...]

Watching student videos

Am grading student videos of their first counseling experience in their very first class. Here are two reflections
1. I’m amazed at the depth of problems their counselees choose to bring up right away. These are people who know they are being videotaped for a class project and though only the grader and the student watch it, [...]

Haggai writes for today

Have you spent much time in this short book? You can find it just before the end of the Old Testament, right after Zephaniah and just before Zechariah. Blink, and you miss this 38 verse book altogether.
My friend Doug preached on chapter 2 this past Sunday. Here are some of the key points of this chapter:
1. [...]

New banner wanted

I’m tired a my current banner pic and am seeking a new one. I thought of making a collage of my worlds (wife, kids, school, outdoors, books, etc.) but that is beyond my talents. So, I’m seeking something (not copyrighted or something I can have permission to use) that would be a bit more fitting than [...]

Sinner fantasies about righteousness

Ever entertain fantasies of moral uprightness in the face of evil?
I suspect we do so because we are trying to quell our own feelings of guilt…
On our trip to CT this week we listened to The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes. In the story many children make fun of a Polish immigrant child with a funny last [...]

Body image, eating disorders, and Thanksgiving

Just before most Americans binge tomorrow I want to post a couple of thoughts about the crazy, insane American way of dealing with food. We all should be thin with perfectly proportioned bodies and yet we want to indulge in our supersize me world. What do we end up with? Overweight adults and children who hate [...]

Ask your pastor this question: Who disciples you?

Recently I’ve taken to asking my pastor clients this question: Who disciples you?
Typical responses? “Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that…don’t know…nobody, I guess…does —– count (nationally-known preacher they listen to or read on a regular basis)” I used to ask, “Where do you feed spiritually?” However, the discipleship question moves beyond that of being [...]

The revolving door of anxiety

This weekend my wife gave me an illustration for anxiety and worry. She had been worrying about one of our children. She said that this worry is like being stuck in a revolving door. She kept going around and around and couldn’t stop the thought pattern.
Later, she said that I had said something that was [...]

Do you live in the 90 or the 10?

No, I’m not talking about the decade of the 90s. I’m talking about that habit we have of living as if the 10% of life that irritates us is really 100% of our life. This week I was doing a live counseling demonstration with another teacher in front of Biblical students. She was struggling with some [...]

State Board Meeting

On Tuesday I got a an up-close-and-personal look at how one of our state’s boards work. I and my program coordinator attended the meeting to answer questions about being a seminary providing an professional counseling masters program. Were we just providing religious education (we do teach bible and theology to our counselors!) or did we [...]