Helpful and practical articles about your relationship with your God, self, spouse, children, and community. Posts focus on marriage, parenting, counseling, growth, sex and sexuality, intimacy, church, spirituality, theology, and therapy in light of a biblical framework and current psychological research.
What are the necessary elements for recovery from addiction?
First, you need to know what causes vulnerability to addiction.
This short article will point out the three necessary aspects of recovering from addiction.
What makes an addict? Is it genetics or bad decisions or something else? There are three things that research shows creates a vulnerability to addiction.
Read MoreWhat does it mean to ‘not grumble or complain’? Does it mean to keep silent or just go along with things? Or does it mean that we ought to deal with people honestly and straightforwardly? This article looks at this phrase and some practicaly ways to deal with conflict.
Read MoreHow do you remember 9/11? Does you remembering move you towards hate or love, anxiety or freedom, pride or anxiety? In this short reflection, we’ll focus on how we remember more than what we remember, in hopes that we better honor those who perished.
Read MoreApocalyptic. No, not the kind with Nic Cage at the end of the world. But the kind that reveals the true nature of things. What’s this pandemic revealed about us? About you? About our needs and fears? This short article looks at four characteristics that have been exposed during the pandemic, and how to remedy them.
Read MoreHow are you navigating the conflict at the heart of our nation? What are you doing with the complex emotions you feel around the deaths of black men and women? Do you feel like your way of life is being threatened?
This blog post is written to help white folks figure out the role they’re playing in race relations. Based on the Karpman Triangle, you’ll be able to understand if you’re playing the victim, offender, or rescuer…and how you can move towards ownership.
‘Just move on.’ ‘Get over it.’ ‘Let the past be the past.’
The courage of the noncombatant wants to move on in order to move away from pain.
How can sexual abuse, and its cover-up, be so ramptant in a denomination? A response to the report on sexual abuse cover-up in the Southern Baptist Convention by the Houston Chronicle.
Read MoreAre you having arguments with someone in your head? Are you carrying someone elses junk? Is somebody stealing your joy? Let it go. Go get your joy back.
Read MoreThe holidays have potential for great joy and great dread. Here are 7 tips to help make the holidays work for you.
Read MoreThe Opioid epidemic has many contributors, from prescription drug profits, high school football injuries, insurance companies, to false research supporting their prescription. But at the heart of this epidemic is a critical question:
What do you do with your pain?
Read MoreAbuse is far more often IN HERE than it is OUT THERE. Abuse always occurs within systems that allow for it. What are the characteristics of those systems? How often does abuse occur within the church, or under its nose?
Read MoreSexual abuse is not only commonplace in Hollywood institutions, but in our churches as well. You ought never stop exposing, fighting and holding abusers accountable, lest you be judged with them for your silence.
Read MoreTo be told stories is to be mentored. To grow up as a young man and hear stories from the old men is an invaluable gift, to be neglected those stories is to be malnourished and cursed. Here's a short reflection on how Tom Petty served in this role for me, as well as how we should serve in that role for others.
Read MorePaul talks a lot about our freedom in Christ, a freedom which he says is at its best when it's used to love others. Here are some reflections and actions in response to Paul's high view of freedom.
Read MoreAre there cowards in the Bible? What does the Bible say about cowards? I would argue that there is no place for cowardice for those who are following Jesus.
Read MoreWorking for God without being loved by God is like a stream trying to fill a lake without rain. God calls us to love and be loved, rather than to work and be loved.
Read MoreTo the hopeless and despairing, my ode to your pain.
Read MoreWhat does the bible say about engaging conflict? What are practical ways to develop healthier conflict resolution in your relationships? Here are 10 principles of healthy conflict resolution found throughout Scripture.
Read MoreHow do you engage conflict when you feel hurt by someone? Do you fight, flight, freeze or please? Here is a guide to help you better understand the ways in which you react to hurt, so that you can move towards greater intimacy with those you care about.
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