I Got Your Message

Fall after school sunset cruise.

My cousin Ben coming through with some amazing drone shots.

It's been more than a year and a half since The 5 Masculine Instincts came out. I'm continually grateful for people who continue to purchase and share the book. It's still ranking in the Christian Men and Church Leadership categories. This fall, I'm speaking at several men's events and always walk away from them feeling encouraged and optimistic about Christian men. There are far more godly men faithfully serving than the headlines care to share. There is still plenty of challenges facing men today, but I'm believing that the call of Christ is becoming clearer and I want to keep playing a small humble part in it however I can.

Link in Bio This week our family launched a new podcast called Let's Talk Bible. As I'm preaching through the Gospel of Luke, we're having discussions about each passage, its background, and its meaning. It's been a lot of fun. They are smart, articulate, and clever. Many of the segments were their ideas. We wanted to make a podcast that families could listen to together and all learn. I think we underestimate what kids are capable of, and so we've not dumbed anything down. I want to aim high when it comes to teaching my kids scripture. Hope your family enjoys it. Maybe share it with a family you know too.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been working on a book about Jesus’s words of offense. There is a famous piece of graffiti from Rome that is believed to be the oldest depiction of Jesus’s crucifixion. It was scratched into a plaster wall, and meant to mock Christians. It depicts a Christian lifting his hand to worship a man with the head of a donkey being crucified. It is Christ. It’s a strange thing to hang on your wall but it’s a reminder to me that this message of hope is still for many a message of foolishness and offense. Why if Christ’s first disciples were mocked like this do we expect cultural approval and influence. We must write and speak what is true, even when it is not received. God help us do that.

More Dead Sea scrolls. 1955 publication with photo prints from Hebrew University. Sukenik was the first person realize what the Dead Sea scrolls were.

One of the pieces of advice I give to people wanting to read more, is find something you like, and read everything about it. I love finding an author, I like and reading everything they’ve written. My current obsession is all things discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is a remarkable story which I knew only a little bit about. I love tracking down used books; most of these are first hand, accounts of discovering or purchasing or translating the scrolls. I’m sure you’ll see me wring about it sometime soon.