(Not so) Superheroes

When I was a child, I read the Bible like a child. The only thing that distinguished the heroes and heroines in scripture from the superheroes I saw in Marvel or DC Comics was their costumes. And the comic book heroes were way better dressed than how I imagined their biblical counterparts might have been. Even Joseph’s coat of many colors couldn’t compete with Spiderman’s spandex or Iron Man’s armor. Other than that, though, there wasn’t much difference between, say, Samson and Captain America or Deborah and Wonder Woman. But when I became a man, I had to put away … Read more…

Better Than Perfect

If you quit going to church or gave up on prayer or, in some other way, backed away from this whole God thing because you failed in some really spectacular way and you just don’t feel comfortable being around all the “good” people any more, you need to know this story.  But if you feel pretty confident about where you are spiritually, if you often think, “Well, at least I didn’t (fill in the blank with whatever sin you haven’t committed)”, then you really need to know this story. Six centuries ago, a Japanese Shogun named Ashikaga Yoshimasa unwrapped a … Read more…