Yesterday after the Iowa – Iowa State game, Chad Leistikow wrote that it was a game “neither team deserved to lose.” [1] You all know I’m a huge Iowa Hawkeye football fan… but I am also the sort of fan who loves to cheer on Iowa State or UNI or any other Iowa team, as…
Spirit of Embodiment
Last week I talked a little bit about how I am trying to be more healthy and strong and one of the ways I am doing that is by going to the gym. I’m there four-five days a week and each time, while the majority of the exercises we all share together, there are a…
Spirit of Self-Control
Many of you know that I spent some time this spring focusing on my health. I joined a gym, worked out five times a week, and kept to a limited food plan focused on building lean muscle and burning fat. For the six weeks of the challenge, I practiced incredible self-control. And the week after,…
The Spirit of Surrender
A little bit later in the service today, we will be receiving a new member of this Body of Christ. And we will ask Tom some questions… questions that all of us were asked when we joined this church, questions that our parents and sponsors were asked when we were baptized. Do we accept the…
The Spirit of Gentleness
Yesterday morning, Brandon and I were walking through the farmer’s market downtown when suddenly before us was a man holding a gigantic sign. As people passed by, averting their gaze, he shouted out condemnations and warnings. “Don’t return to church,” he said as I crossed his path, “Return to the Lord!” Most of you haven’t…
The Spirit of Goodness
We’ve heard of goody-two-shoes… Good riddance… Goodness gracious great balls of fire… Goodbye… Things can taste good, we like to read good books and tell good stories. We tell our children to be good and to get good grades. But what does it really mean to be good? The Random House dictionary has 41 different…
The Spirit of Healing
A few years ago, I was in Tampa for a church conference in a part of town that had a lot of homeless folks around. I have to be honest that when I saw the folks standing on the street looking for handouts, I didn’t stop to respond. I spent a lot of time diverting…
The Spirit of Patience
Patience is not a virtue that comes easily to us. Some of us are built with fairly short fuses. I think it is because we get personally invested in our work and our play and we want to see the results of our efforts. But when things start to fall apart, instead of taking the…