1. The reason we think asking, “What would Jesus do?” is legalism is only because it will not help with our kid’s sport of choice. No one would discourage their kid from trying to be like the best player possible in that sport.

2. Don’t underestimate the significance of a client feeling safe and being safe during counseling sessions.

3. A kind word has incalculable power.

4. I had a realization about myself recently. When something distressing or hurtful happens to me, I want others to know about it. And there are two ways I can do this. I can tell them I am frustrated or I can sulk and mope and stew in bitterness and resentment. And that is what I am prone to do. This does no one any good whatsoever. No one. Or I can absorb that pain and resolve as a disciple of Jesus to walk in patience and kindness, not making those around “pay” for my hurt. And I think this may be what joy looks like.

5. MIllstones, I tell you. Millstones.

6. What if the church became known as a culture where everything was done without complaining?

7. Last night Bethany and I watched a show about a couple building an Irish cottage tree house in their backyard. Then I read in Greg Allman’s memoir he had a neighbor with a tree house and his mother said it looked like “the damn shanty Irish.” Then I read that his brother Duane – the Duane Allman – was reading The Lord of the Rings for fifth time when died. Fifteen minutes later I was in bed reading The Two Towers.

8. Marriage has the potential for the most beauty and therefore potential for the most ugliness.

9. I can’t imagine/What it is like to fear bombs/On a lovely spring day.

10. Tedeschi Trucks Band bootlegs are better than other artist’s actual releases. So enjoy this unofficial bootleg video of them playing their song, Midnight in Harlem, with an intro of Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way. It brought me to tears the first 10 times I watched it.

1. One of the things I love about the Bible is I can read something like 1 Peter, which I have read so many times before, and because of some change in my life, what I am reading is something new and fresh.

2. I have more than once been counseling a client and in the moment thought, “I really need to take my own advice on this.” Not sure it should or could be any other way and feel like I’m doing anything helpful.

3. Last weekend, Bethany and I watched the documentary, Jesus Music. I enjoyed it but much of it made me sad. But maybe not for the reason you think. I do not like “worship music.” At all. Now some of you probably just gasped. And that is the problem. The worship music industry is a billion dollar industry in which churches must pay for the rights to use music to, wait for it, worship the King. But that is not even what I dislike the most about worship music. It has taken over Christian music. When I was in high school and college there were incredible bands like the 77s, The Choir, Daniel Amos, The Altar Boys, The Prayer Chain, Poor Old Lu and dozens of others that sang about reality from a Christian perspective. There is no room for those bands anymore (and no stores to buy them in also). And if worship music is the default, then what if you don’t like the style? What does that say to a kid who does not like that style of music? I am so thankful I had those bands to listen to back when I was young (and now) because if all I had were derivative Coldplay meets Carrie Underwood sounding songs from 10 years ago, I am not sure what the effect would have been. Some of those bands were a huge part of my continuing to follow Jesus.

4. In Philippians 2:14, Paul says, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” The Greek word for “everything” is hard because it means “everything.” And we have Facebook.

5. As a counselor, it is painful to hear of what has been done to my clients when they were children. I usually joke and say the hardest part of counseling is clients keeping their appointments. But it’s not true. This is the hardest –– hearing about what those in authority have done to children.

6. I have not gotten a record in the mail in at least a week. I should get a prize

7. Tim Keller could post, “Jesus is God,” and someone would find a reason to argue with him.

8. Even though we don’t watch football, I do plan on having Super Bowl food on Sunday night while watching something on Discovery Plus.

9. The bigger the church, the less transparency when things go wrong. And the greater the harm done.

10. A lot could be understood about our culture if we realize how much undue importance we place on sports.

1. All meaningful relationships require effort, even our relationship with Jesus.

2. As a follower of Jesus, I love listening to songs about Jesus. And not just vague songs about Jesus. I like the songs that toe the line between brilliant poetry and corny and almost cheesy, because that’s a risk worth taking. I do prefer those songs to have a punk rock edge, though. Or sound like they have the hills underneath them.

3. Complaining can kinda make me feel good. But what really does me good and makes me feel good is when I think about complaining and then decide to not do it.

4. All Creatures Great and Small is the best thing on TV.

5. The hardest part of marriage counseling is the speck is larger than the log.

6. Stop using résumés for hiring pastors.

7. I’d like to stay at Tom Bombadil’s house and listen to Goldberry sing.

8. I have not missed Twitter at all, which has surprised me.

9. I love that Jesus is never in a hurry.

10. Christian schools/churches seem to not understand that the way they treat their employees and staff is an education about the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. They are teaching the children in their charge what they really believe about the gospel.

1. Hope in politicians is more harmful for the church than anything a politician can do.

2. Have you ever stopped to think about how passionately you cheer for your college sports team, even though that college has most likely, in all academic disciplines, ignored the vital reality of God in considering its ideas and conclusions about how to live in this world? It’s worth thinking about.

3. The best thing you can do for your kids is to give loving attention to your spouse.

4. According to the Scriptures, you can walk daily in fellowship with God.

5. If I counsel anyone with a view other than them following Jesus better, even if they overcome whatever issue they were struggling with, I have not counseled them well.

6. There is a lot to be learned about how to follow Jesus from those who followed Jesus before the Reformation.

7. The current hot button issues of the day are not affecting the church near as much as kids’ sports is.

8. If we neglect prayer and the reading of the Scriptures in our daily lives, we are neglecting those primary things which we have been created to do.

9. Listening to beautiful music is good for you.

10. The Covid-19 vaccine is a gift from God that has saved many lives and the fact that me saying this is controversial among my fellow believers is an indictment of the state of the church in America.

1. Whenever I think of suffering Christians in other parts of the world, I think of the time I spent a summer in Buffalo, NY doing mission work. They thought I must have been very mature as a Christian (though just a college student) because I was down in the “Bible Belt” and went to a big church. All the churches I worked in were very small. But the truth is even those younger than me had more faith than I did because they lived in a place where being a Christian was far less acceptable. I thought I had the advantage. I was wrong.

2. The reason the world seems out of control and in crisis is because we think what we read or watch from the news is of greater significance than the reality of King Jesus and his kingdom.

3. It is always good to ask yourself, “Would I worry this much if Jesus was physically with me right now?”

4. I am learning to be thankful for discouragement since it also reminds me of the presence and provision of Jesus.

5. I have never been able to talk a college student into not joining a fraternity or sorority and instead putting all their energy into a local church and campus ministry. Not once.

6. You were not created to bear the weight of the 24/7 news cycle.

7. Assuming the best of people not only makes it easier to love those you disagree with but it also is a more joyous way to live.

8. Prayer is most likely more powerful than your fight on Facebook.

9. Afghanistan is a reminder that all a church needs is Jesus. It doesn’t need a budget, a building, or a vibrant children’s ministry. The goal is not those things. The goal is the faithfulness in the face of suffering we are all witnessing.

10. My wife’s laugh is worth more than gold. And when it joins with my children’s laugh, it is a sound beyond anything Bach could have written.

1. Most Bible-readers are familiar with Paul’s admonition of “Do not be anxious about anything in Philippians 4:6. But what I find interesting is the phrase before it – “The Lord is near.” Now you might be tempted to think that means that he is coming soon. Maybe. But most of the time when that Greek word is used in the NT it means spatially near. And every time Paul uses it, that’s what it means. So, “The Lord is spatially near to you. Do not be anxious about anything…”

2. The best way to stop seeing everything through a political lens is to turn off the news and follow no news online and spend that time in prayer and the ancient Scriptures.

3. Wisdom is knowing how to deal with facts.

Fact: I had a miserable soul-crushing experience working at the bank.

Fact: Many people have had great experiences working at the bank.

Wisdom is realizing that both of these are true and there is nothing wrong with either.

4. Yesterday, my son asked me how long I’d been listening to Springsteen. And I told him I do not remember a time when I was not. His songs are just part of the fabric of my growing up. I used to walk around the house singing, “Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack/I went out for a ride and I never went back.” My mom was not very fond of this. He’s like an uncle who is rebellious but you’re proud of him and love him anyway. My son then asked if I’d take him to see him in concert.

5. A disciple of Jesus is one who follows him in safety knowing he has already defeated our great enemies of sin and death.

6. We should not be surprised by the transgender revolution. For a long time now the argument has been, there is no real difference between men and women. We thought we were valuing women by telling them there is no real difference between them and men and instead we were stealing their dignity.

7. Kids are not decoration. They are not bling. They are not filigree to make us look better on Instagram and Facebook.

8. Why should we expect our prayers to be answered if we do not seek obedience and time with Jesus? I mean, they might be answered, but why should we expect it?

9. Successful counseling is far more dependent on the desire and intention of the client to do the work of change than on my smarts.

10. How come no one is talking about “social mercy?”

1. Because our desires are infinite, we will never have enough money if that is our desire. Or drugs. Or alcohol. or sex. Or respect. But Jesus, Who is infinite, is all at once satisfying and yet can always give us more of himself.

2. One of the most surprising things about counseling is how much I learn from my clients. Often, their learned wisdom is illuminating. I learned early not to assume I have all the answers, even though I am sure of a path to take.

3. Maybe the best way to fight against a celebrity culture is to pray for celebrities. I’m serious. Pick one and pray for them to know the joy of a life marked by the love of Jesus. Wisdom would tell us to choose one we do not like at all. The one who annoys us the most. The one doing the most damage in our estimation. They too are image-bearers, full of hurts and fears and insecurities, needing the clemency of the King.

4. You can learn a great deal about modern man by reading the ancients.

5. The other night I dreamed I was sick and it was serious. Deadly serious. But I was at peace in that dream because I knew I had nothing to fear. I would like to live up to that dream when the day comes.

6. If we have no money but have Jesus, we are safe. If we have riches but do not have Jesus, we are in danger.

7. As I approach 50 years old I wonder when I will stop doing stupid stuff. I know the answer and look forward to that day.

8. When I stop worrying about how I look and instead seek to make my presence an extension of the ministry of Christ to others, I can be at peace in any social situation.

9. If Jesus needed time alone to pray, I assume I need it even more.

10. Loving what is beautiful in a culture which more and more celebrates what is gross and ugly is no small thing.

1. You can actually walk with Christ. Daily. But just like with any other person, you have to be intentional and pursue him. The difference is you must obey him, too. But also, the difference is in doing so, you get a life of joy that cannot be taken away from you.

2. It is hard to believe the unseen realities are the highest realities in a screen-driven, image-obsessed culture.

3. If you stay off social media and do not read or listen to the news, you will have no idea what is going with politicians, celebrities, entertainers, and athletes. And I am discovering it is a beautiful way to live.

4. Read books written outside of the digital technology machine. If you don’t you will only think like the machine. You will see everything through their lens. You will assume their assumptions. You will not be able to think upside down. You will only fear their fears. You will only be able to think their thoughts after them.

5. I just learned that part of the story arc of Franny and Zooey by Salinger is one of my favorite books, The Way of a Pilgrim, an Orthodox book from the 18th century on prayer.

6. Discipline is not only punishment. It is also not always having a snack ready for your child. Then they know how to suffer through the difficulty of going an hour without some Goldfish.

7. I listened to nothing but Rich Mullins yesterday and thought about the impact he had on me and still has and how he took the time to talk with a friend and I after a show in Atlanta. God, I miss him.

8. Have you ever stopped and thought about how grown men get paid millions upon millions to play games? And it is normal if they fight and complain and cheat? And we are entertained by it? Sometimes this doesn’t bother me and sometimes it does.

9. There is no “mindless” entertainment. You are always engaging your mind with whatever you are being entertained by. It may not be requiring you to think deeply, but you are thinking and the way you think is being shaped. And so is your spirit. This is is important to understand in a culture more inclined to watch mindless TV to de-stress than to read something that will direct our minds toward God.

10. If we only change because our circumstances change, then who is our God?

1. We need to be careful of the desire to be clever in our communication. Twitter and Facebook have made this ubiquitous but we should be careful because it often shuts down actual thoughtful communication. A clever response can sometimes be helpful, but also it can shut down the possibility of extended discussion of complex issues.

2. I know as a good American I am not supposed to like the monarchy. But I love how the Brits love their royal family. I’m not even sure why. But I do wonder if it is because I am created to love a Sovereign.

3. Because our culture valorizes rage and sees mercy and forgiveness as weak and a giving in to injustice, there can be no expectation of gun violence (or any other kind of violence) ending any time soon. I assume it will grow. Anger is now a virtue and casting it out into the world for all to see is also an act of virtue. If someone has wronged you, anger. If someone has wronged someone somewhere thousands of miles away and you know no one involved, anger. Your team blows a lead, anger. The other team cheats, anger. Package is late, anger. Someone says they disagree with you on masks, anger. The weather is bad, anger.

And to be honest, the church, which should be known for its forgiveness and mercy and grace, is increasingly cut from the same cloth. Nothing but anger. And it seems that every time I bring this up, someone will immediately point to Jesus turning over the tables. Just a thought but maybe we should be like Jesus in his mercy and forgiveness and then work on being angry without sinning.

4. Baseball is beautiful.

5. What you entertain yourself with is what will spiritually form you.

6. The works of Bob Dylan are an education.

7. Isn’t it strange that one hundred years ago, cars were seen as dangerous, but now if a teenager does not get their license on the day they turn 16 something is wrong? Which got me thinking – my autistic daughter would quite possibly have taken more easily to a horse.

8. We don’t have cable so we have only been able to watch home renovation shows like Home Town, Maine Cabin Masters, and Fixer Upper, while on vacation. But we just got Discovery Plus and the danger of the show is if you are not content with what you have. But also, these people are artists – even the ones who are not the “stars” – and I think it’s to good enjoy that kind of practical art instead of a another dark Netflix drama with hero, fighting psychos and a tragic past of their own making.

9. Slogans are to actual problems what band-aids are to cancer.

10. It is getting very hard to listen to those who want you to just trust science because they seem to be the ones consistently telling us a boy can be a girl and a girl can be a boy and there is no difference anyway. I’m still going to wear a mask if asked to because of Matthew 5:41, but I’m struggling to believe them.

1. What a Christian organization says it believes does not make it a Christian organization. How it treats its employees and how it makes decisions make it like Christ, if that is what they mean by “Christian.” Many tend to use the concept of “ministry” as its branding to the watching world but on the inside they make business decisions just like any other for-profit business. Every Christian organization should be led by shepherds who are willing to care for the souls of the disciples entrusted to them. But this is far too often not the case. And this is why leaders are able to do unrighteousness for so long even within so-called Christian institutions.

2. You can simultaneously see something horrible happening in the culture, know it’s wrong, and still be unafraid.

Just like Jesus.

3. I enjoy just knowing baseball is being played even when I’m not watching it.

4. We as the people of God should be very slow to applaud when someone famous within our own circles publicly announces they are leaving: their spouses, their faith, their denomination, their ministry, etc. And we should be even slower to applaud when they made a great deal of money from which they are leaving. It all feels too much like the ways of the world and its desire to deconstruct everything all the time world without end.

Applaud when they are leaving behind their own sins.

5. All counseling is discipleship to something to someone.

6. Most writing in Christendom is so poor these days because these days no one reads the poets or Kerouac anymore.

7. I’ve been reading a lot about Bob Dylan lately, surrounding myself with his songs and writings too. I think I am on book six this year. One thing I really love which I have seen in him which I have seen very little of in this world is his ability to zig when everyone else is zagging. When everyone else was celebrating him as a the voice of a generation, he stopped speaking for his generation. When everyone tried to compete with his genre-changing rock albums of the ’60s, he recorded two country albums. Pastors could learn a lot from him. Heck, we all could.

8. A phenomenon on Twitter is what I now call “the pile on.” It’s when someone tweets something and then dozens if not hundreds then pile on that person with criticism at the least or insult at the worst. They either use replies or retweets to do this. And by “they” I mean me sometimes. I’ve been a part of this phenomenon but I no longer want to be.

I am named after Matthew, the tax-collector, whom Jesus called and did not pile on.

9. Someone asked me recently why I loved vinyl records and I knew the answer but I could not put what I was thinking and feeling into words on the spot. Here is my answer –– listening to music on vinyl is more like sitting down to a nice relaxed meal and listening to music using a streaming service is like fast food in your car while your driving somewhere you don’t really want to go.

10. I consider it a good thing when the Bible offends my sensibilities.