On Sunday, I announced my need for a fifth brain surgery and thought the operation was weeks away. On Tuesday, my doctor said he wanted to do the surgery today—Friday. That surprise is a reminder that so much of life is found in all we do not know. The I-Don’t-Knows of Life Life happens in a flash of the immediate present. Once that flash is complete, it instantly becomes the past. Our knowledge of those past moments comes only after the fact. Our future moments are everything beyond the present flash of lived experience. We never know what those moments will bring. Sometimes we have good guesses about what the future holds. But guesses are not facts, and likelihoods are not certainties. There are never guarantees about what is coming. When we try to look ahead beyond the immediate...

When a medical emergency occurs, there are many types of systems and levels of care that have been developed to help. You can call 911, and an ambulance can come, and there is a trained EMT onboard. Another option would be to drive to the emergency room and trained ER docs and nurses are there to help. The Urgent Care facility in your area of town is also available to care for your needs. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, imaging technicians, and pharmacists have varying areas of expertise to help when there is a need. We are grateful for all of these options. Here at First Baptist Church, we have also developed various types of care systems, both for immediate and preventative care for those experiencing brokenness in life in general and in marriage in particular. We have done this so we...

April 16, 2023 Update This morning I shared some hard and frustrating news with First Baptist. In the last week, I learned I will require another surgery for ongoing neurological problems in my brain. It is painfully ironic that I was learning about my need for this fifth brain surgery during the week of the release of my new book, which had its origin in my very first surgery. The release of that book seemed, in my mind, to be commemorating the end of this season of struggle. Let me explain this unanticipated setback. How I Got Here In 2018 I was diagnosed with what doctors called a vascular compression of cranial nerves in my brain. That means a cluster of blood vessels was applying pressure to a crucial nerve in my brain that controls movement on the right sight of my body. That...

As a child, it is common to seek out heroes you would love to be like as you grow up. They become models for future growth and even icons in dreams for the future. I can remember baseball players I wanted to play like when I played little league, musicians I wanted to sound like when I became interested in music, and pastors whom I wanted to emulate when I was called to ministry. We know that the perfect image we are to “grow up” in is that of Jesus Christ. But who can we look to in the Scriptures to follow because of their example of following Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1)?   The obvious choices are the heroes of the faith. The book of Hebrews gives us a list of options in Hebrews 11: Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, and many more are obvious choices listed there. In the New...

The Great Love of God is my first book since 2016, and releases today. There are lots of books out there to read, so I’d like to take a moment to explain three reasons why I hope you’ll pick up this one. A Personal Reason for The Great Love of God The years between 2018 and 2022 were the worst of my life. A ministry crisis and four brain surgeries created an explosion of suffering. But my story of those years is not one of pain but one of love, grace, and glory. When Christians betrayed me, and my body failed me, God pulled me close. His presence sanctified my suffering. God revealed his love to me in profound and fresh ways. I want to share with you what I experienced. This book is personal. There is more of me in these pages than anything I’ve ever written. A Global Reason for The...

It has been said that every good story borrows from the gospel. If you have ever found yourself in tears at the close of a book or witnessed an eruption of applause in a movie theater, you have tasted gospel seasoning in the drama. The self-sacrificing hero, victory from the clutches of defeat, or the sudden reappearance of a character thought to be dead all borrow their glory from the greatest story ever told. These tales are often woven around central characters who give of themselves for the good of others. Mr. Darcy, Frodo Baggins, Atticus Finch, and Penny Baxter are endearing precisely because they look a little something like Jesus. But nothing compares to the real thing. Our favorite stories only are pencil sketches of the gospel diamond. The true gem glints and glitters with the...