Chaplainmike

Moving

I received an invitation today. Friends from my eighth grade class at school are planning the next reunion and get-together. That’s right, my eighth grade class. I moved to the Chicago suburbs during the years we used to call “Jr. High.” Now, it’s “Middle School.” My folks built a brand new house in a newContinue reading “Moving”

Daniel Jepsen on The Meaning of Genesis 1

Note from CM: This is the third and final post in Pastor Dan’s series. Read the first two posts HERE and HERE. Dan blogs HERE. * * * The meaning of Genesis One: The Universe as God’s Temple by Daniel Jepsen What does creation mean? Don’t skip over that question. It is at the veryContinue reading “Daniel Jepsen on The Meaning of Genesis 1”

Marge’s Funeral Sermon

Note: For background, read “Joe and Marge.” * * * I am glad I had the opportunity to meet many of you today. I am also glad i got to watch the video with pictures of Marge from her life over the years. One sad part of my ministry is that I only get toContinue reading “Marge’s Funeral Sermon”

Matthew B. Redmond: The God of the Mundane

Note from CM: Today, I’d like you to meet another new friend. Please welcome Matthew B. Redmond, who blogs at Echoes and Stars. Matt has been a pastor and now works in banking in Birmingham, AL. He has a book coming out later this year, published by Kalos Press, called The God of the Mundane.Continue reading “Matthew B. Redmond: The God of the Mundane”

Ryan McLaughlin: How the Sacred Heart Healed Me from Sovereign Grace Ministries

Note from CM: One of the writers I met on our Writers’ Open Forum a couple weeks ago is Ryan McLaughlin. He blogs at The Back of the World. He describes his own spiritual journey like this: “It’s taken me a decade to finally come to this. I walked away from a Charismatic/Evangelical upbringing, ranContinue reading “Ryan McLaughlin: How the Sacred Heart Healed Me from Sovereign Grace Ministries”

A Tale of Two Wilsons

Below you will read two remarkably different responses to this past week’s blogosphere blow-up. One, by the person who put the initial post up at The Gospel Coalition (now taken down), is honorable and reflects the spirit of Christ. The second, which is by the author whom the blogger quoted, well, you can read forContinue reading “A Tale of Two Wilsons”

My Beloved, My Friend

“This is my beloved and this is my friend…” – Song of Solomon 5:16 * * * Those simple, graceful words from the Song of Solomon have summarized the way I’ve viewed my relationship with my wife Gail ever since we fell in love as college students. I wrote a song using them as the mainContinue reading “My Beloved, My Friend”

Saturday Ramblings 7.21.12

Welcome to a somber and shortened version of Saturday Ramblings. As of this writing on Friday night, the death toll in the Aurora, Colorado shootings stands at 12, with more than 50 wounded. This just doesn’t seem to me to be a good day to poke fun at Joel Osteen, Ed Young Jr., or anyContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings 7.21.12”

Dan Jepsen: Do some interpretations of Genesis 1 deny creation ex nihilo?

Note from CM: This is part two of a three-part series by Pastor Dan on Genesis 1. You can read part one HERE. * * * Do Some Interpretations of Genesis 1 Deny Creation ex Nihilo? by Daniel Jepsen As I have tried to argue in a previous post, creation ex nihilo is in manyContinue reading “Dan Jepsen: Do some interpretations of Genesis 1 deny creation ex nihilo?”

Sex, Authority/Submission, and Remarkable Insensitivity

“When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. a woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to allContinue reading “Sex, Authority/Submission, and Remarkable Insensitivity”