Last November, I was riding the bus home on a cold winter night, and I noticed a chatty, elderly, African-American man as I walked toward the front. He seemed to be the only person who was interested in what he was saying, and I felt suspicious.
What’s Behind our Inferiority Complex
When I was growing up in Petal, Mississippi, I felt a steady sense of being out-of-place. I didn’t play sports; my dad didn’t take me hunting; I paid the reduced price for my school lunch; and we weren’t Southern Baptists like almost everyone else in town. These were a few of the clues that helped me see that I didn’t belong.
The Reason to Forgive that Annoying Person
I know I’m supposed to like the whole Bible – especially anything Jesus said. But there are a few parts that get under my skin. One in particular is this passage from Luke 17:3-4: “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
What Really Happens When You Disrespect Your Spouse
In my first year of marriage, my wife and I got into a disagreement while visiting someone else’s home. We went to the guest room to hash it out privately—but we had no idea how badly we were about to embarrass ourselves.
Before You Watch the Videos of the Virginia Murder . . .
As most Americans know, reporter Alison Parker and camera man Adam Ward of WDBJ7 were shot on live TV this morning by an evil man who filmed himself as he did it. He posted the videos on Twitter and Facebook, and before they were removed, the videos were shared on the internet. Before you watch those videos, I encourage you to consider this:
Remembering Father God at the Ironing Board
Although I hate ironing, I went on a wild ironing spree this past Sunday afternoon.
I Don’t Enjoy Every Moment with My Kids (and That’s OK)
It was Christmas of 1984, and my mother crammed my three older siblings and me into a compact car and took us to Arkansas to celebrate the holiday. I vaguely remember it — my mother, on the other hand, remembers it quite clearly. Apparently, it was pretty rough. No doubt, putting one adult, two older teenagers and two small boys into a small car for six hours was a recipe for disaster. One of us — I shall not say who — was behaving horribly and Mom couldn’t seem to get control of the situation. She was exasperated nearly the entire time.
7 Signs You Were Raised as an Evangelical in the Last 25 Years
The last 25 years have been monumental for the evangelical subculture — it was a time in which we saw the explosive growth of megachurches, the prominence of the True Love Waits campaign, and the end of dc Talk.
The Reason We Aren’t Aware of our Blind Spots
The other day, I was backing up in a parking lot and saw a woman walking in the direction of my car. I kept going, figuring she would stop, but she didn’t. In fact, she gave me the stinky face in my rearview mirror as I put on my brakes and waited for her to pass.
How to Know the Exact Moment You Were Saved
When I was in college, I lived with the perpetual fear that somehow I had missed the salvation boat, that although I had placed my trust in Jesus, in the end, I would come before God’s throne, and He would shake His head and say, “I’m sorry, but you just thought you were saved.”
The Reason I Endorsed “The Dating Manifesto”
Let me share a dirty little secret from the publishing world: There are some people who write endorsements for books without reading them. I am not one of those people.
Something I’m Grateful My Parents Forced Me to Do
“Joshua! Caleb! Get out here quick!” Although it has been over two decades since I heard my parents yelling those words from the backyard of our rental home in rural south Mississippi, I still remember them fondly.
If You’re Wondering How I Write So Much
About once a week, I get the same question about my writing: “Where do you find the time to do it so much?” I can tell you this: it ain’t easy.
The Reason You’re Emotionally Toxic
I once knew this guy who regularly started conversations like this: “Have you got a minute? I need your prayers.” Except there was never any prayer involved – it was just a religious intro to gossip.
Clawing Away at our Brokenness
When I was a teenager, I was grateful that I had few zits on my face. I hated, however, the fact that I had them all over my back. It was a social hazard to go swimming or change my shirt around other teens. I couldn’t bear the thought of my peers seeing my acne-covered back and being grossed out by me. So I did the only thing I knew to effectively get rid of it: I baked my fair skin in the sun until it burned.
Joshua Rogers 