Each week, my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Darden, chose a student to be room monitor for the week. There were enough weeks that everyone would have one turn. The room monitor’s job...

Authority is important. Before many of us make major purchases or investments or seek medical care, we consult with an authorized and experienced person. Authorities are credentialed. I debated on my...

An employee at a church where I once worked proved to be a morale problem for the entire staff. She constantly criticized individuals, decisions, and policies but claimed innocence when confronted...

In my first theology class, we studied various theologians, which excited me because these people provided answers to questions I had not considered. Then, we explored other theologians who contradicted the...

Pastor Joe grew up in a very poor family during the Great Depression. One day, he asked his mother how she and his father got by with six children. His mother...

Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you were interrupting a conversation? When a passage begins with the word “indeed,” that’s what I think about. “Indeed” is used...

High priests are the people God chooses as liaisons between the things pertaining to God and the needs of the people (see Hebrews 5:1). Jesus, as our high priest, has struggled...

Flying from Johannesburg to Atlanta takes sixteen hours and forty minutes on a 296-passenger plane. Two of us occupied the window and aisle seats in our row and waited for the...

Time and again Jesus tells his disciples he is not the Messiah they expected. And here, again, Jesus challenges tradition and religious teachings in surprising and difficult ways. Chapter 10 is...

Psalm 22:1 is most often heard on Good Friday, for these are Jesus’ last recorded words before he “breathes his last” (Mark 15:33-37). So it can seem unseasonal to read these...