TEN YEARS GONE: Equity, Justice, and Righteousness (Revised)

When Your Opponent Is Protecting Something Valuable

First published Thursday, February 4, 2016. Revised Saturday, June 20, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: The Face of Someone Who Has Been With God (Revised)

On Moses and the Light We Carry

First published Wednesday, February 3, 2016. Revised Sunday, June 14, 2026. 

TEN YEARS GONE: Just Like Us (Revised)

Why Christ's Humanity Matters

First Published February 2, 2016. Revised June 11, 2026. 

TEN YEARS GONE: The Refiner's Fire

On the Thoughts We Never Speak

 First published on Monday, February 1, 2026. Revised Sunday, June 7, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: The Pro-Life Readings

Wonder Before Politics

First Published Friday January 29, 2016. Revised Saturday May 30, 2026

Ten Years Gone — Do Not Mourn (Revised)

 Staying in the Joy of Easter

First Published January 22, 2016. Revised on May 10, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: Lead, Don't Lord

Peter, Servanthood, and the Difference Between Leaders and Bosses

TEN YEARS GONE: Holy Spirit = Unity (Revised)

The Gradual Erosion of Contempt

First Published Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Revised May 8, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: Even Beasts (Revised)

The Reach of God’s Care in a Living World

First Published January 12, 2016. Revised April 24, 2026. 

TEN YEARS GONE - Marriage (Revised)

 

Covenant, Delight, and the End of Abandonment

First published Monday, January 11, 2016. Revised April 17, 2016.

TEN YEARS GONE: Receiving the Holy Spirit

 

The Prayer We Rarely Think to Pray

First Published Saturday, January 9, 2016. Revised Sunday, April 12, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: Water (Revised)

 Where Life, Power, and Mystery Meet

First published Friday, January 8, 2016. Revised Monday, March 23, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: Fear Not (Revised)

Called by Name in a Season of Testing

First published Thursday, January 7, 2016. Revised March 21, 2026.

Ten Years Gone: The Mystery . . . Good! (Revised)

 

From Epiphany’s Light to Lent’s Quiet Wonder

First Published Wednesday, January 6, 2016. Revised March 10, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: Dear in His Sight (Revised)

 

From Epiphany’s Light to Lent’s Sobriety

First published Tuesday, January 5, 2016. Revised Tuesday, March 3, 2026. 

TEN YEARS GONE: Hope for Children — All of Them (Revised for Lent)

When Innocence Threatens Power

First published Monday, December 28, 2015. Revised Sunday, March 1, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: God Changes His Mind (Revised for Lent)

When Judgment Yields to Mercy

First published December 26, 2015. Revised for Lent, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: A Light That Cannot Be Cancelled (Revised for Lent)

 

From Christmas Eve to Lent — Why We Still Need the Light

First Published Thursday, December 24, 2015. Revised February 27, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: Cry Aloud, Inhabitants of Zion (revised)

 

When The Presence of God Becomes Song

First published Saturday, December 12, 2015. Revised February 25, 2026

TEN YEARS GONE: The Woman and the City (Revised)

 

When Culture Seduces Power — and the Church Must Decide

First published Saturday, December 5, 2015. Revised February 23, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: Great Babylon Has Fallen (Revised)

 

When Systems Collapse and Illusions Burn

Originally Published Sunday, November 29, 2015. Revised February 22, 2026.

TEN YEARS GONE: New Testament — What Is the “Violence”?

When Judgment Comes Not by Force, but by Truth Fully Spoken

First published November 29, 2015 (Revised for 2026)

TEN YEARS GONE: He Can't Lead the Nations Astray Anymore

 

Why the Gospel Never Needed the Power of the State
First Published Saturday, November 28, 2015

TEN YEARS GONE - Holy, Set Apart

     What I Believed About Holiness Before I Understood Grief

(Originally published November 27, 2015 | lightly edited)

Ten years ago, I was still close enough to loss to speak with urgency.

Fresh grief sharpens moral language. It doesn’t always soften it — but it does make it honest.

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“But as for cowards, the faithless, the corrupt, murderers, the sexually immoral, idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
— Revelation 21:8

The closing chapters of Scripture do not argue. They summarize. They do not negotiate. They describe what belongs in eternity — and what cannot survive it.

What has always struck me is that the dividing line is not intelligence, doctrine, or even religious fluency. It is holiness — not as moral exhibitionism, but as a life set apart from self-destruction.

Cowardice is not holy.
Unfaithfulness fractures trust.
Dirty-mindedness corrodes the inner life.
Lies eventually isolate the liar.

These are not arbitrary rules. They are descriptions of what leads to tears.

Revelation places the wiping away of tears right alongside the call to holiness — and that pairing is no accident. So much of our suffering is delayed consequence. We grasp for comfort now and grieve later. We break bonds and are surprised by the pain. We tell ourselves a lie and wonder why the world feels unreal.

Holiness, joy, and peace are not opposites. They are aligned.

Ten years ago, I wrote with conviction because I believed — and still believe — that God’s warnings are acts of mercy. They are not meant to shame us, but to spare us from becoming people who can no longer receive joy.

Time has not made that conviction smaller.
It has made it more compassionate.