There is a story about a young analyst at a large corporation who spent sleepless nights consumed by a financial projection that would not balance. He was off by $50,000 — more than his entire annual salary — and he was convinced the company would crumble because of his error. He walked into his boss's office prepared to resign in shame. His boss nearly fell out of his chair laughing. The company ...  Read More

There is a question that cuts through every layer of religious performance, every carefully constructed reputation, every polished self-image we carry into a room. It is not a complicated question. It does not require a seminary degree to understand. But it is the kind of question that, if you let it, will reach into the deepest part of who you are and demand an honest answer.The question is simpl...  Read More

There is a story about John Milton, the great 17th-century English poet, that is worth sitting with for a moment. In his epic poem "Paradise Lost," Milton imagines Satan and his fallen angels being transformed into serpents as punishment for their deception in the Garden of Eden. Consumed by a ravenous hunger, these serpent-angels discover a magnificent grove of trees laden with what appears to be...  Read More

There is a moment in the story of the Chilean mining disaster of 2010 that is almost impossible to forget. Thirty-three men were buried 2,300 feet underground after the San Jose copper mine collapsed around them. For seventeen days, the world held its breath. Then a drill probe broke through the rock, and a small note came back to the surface: "We are well in the shelter, the 33."From that moment ...  Read More

There is a question that cuts straight to the heart of who we are and what we truly believe. It is simple, direct, and impossible to answer without revealing something deep about ourselves. Jesus asked it twice in the same passage of Scripture, to two very different people, and the contrast between their answers may be one of the most instructive moments in all of the Gospels.The question is this:...  Read More

There is a strange paradox at the heart of the Christian life. The most important thing you will ever do — entering the kingdom of God — is at the same time the easiest thing imaginable and the hardest thing in the world. Not one or the other. Both, simultaneously. And until you feel the full weight of that tension, you may not truly understand what Jesus is saying in one of the most searching pas...  Read More