Category: Christian Blog

Imagine that you’re in London. The year is 1675; it’s been fewer than ten years since the Great Fire ravished the city. One Sunday afternoon, after lunch, you walk down … Read More

The first shark we catch this morning in Terra Ceia Bay is a very angry, very pregnant bull shark. She whips her tail with amazing force, desperately trying to propel … Read More

As pastors, we acknowledge the importance of evangelism in the Christian life. Sharing the good news was one of the last directives that our Lord gave His disciples (Matt. 18:18–20), … Read More

I can’t recall with certainty when I first read James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” but I had it well in mind in 1984 when Raymond Carver and I were selecting stories … Read More

Pastoral ministry is, in many minds, synonymous with pulpit ministry. Yet pastors, as their name suggests, are not only preachers but shepherds. They are “those who will have to give … Read More

100 years ago, on August 2, 1924 James Baldwin, né James Arthur Jones, was born in New York City. Needless to say, he would grow to become one of America’s … Read More

Most pastors would say that they aspire to be good pastors—that is, good at the task to which they’ve been set, not merely average (much less rotten!). Thankfully, the Scriptures … Read More

I first became infatuated with Luigi da Porto, a warrior-poet from 15th century Italy in 2001, when I went to live in Verona. I’d just completed my Creative Writing masters … Read More

“Changes,” a popular ’70s-era song, captures well the feeling many of us have toward the notion of change: Everyone is going through changes;No one knows what’s going on;And everybody changes … Read More