These four words from a widow got me thinking about death (again)

I try to avoid tragedy stories on the news — stories of families dying in house fires, freak accidents during wedding receptions, a mother drowning trying to rescue her child. Sometimes I can’t help myself though — I’m that guy slowly passing the scene of a horrific accident on the side of the highway, subconsciously hoping to see something shocking. Recently, I was scrolling down my newsfeed and saw a headline that caught my attention: “Air Force Training Crash Kills 2, Including Newlywed Pilot, 24.” I couldn’t help myself: I clicked. There weren’t many details about the accident, which was…

My dad is finally celebrating Easter Sunday

March 31, 2018April 11, 2020 Categories: HeavenTags: healing · heaven

I have a brother and sister who died in a plane crash when they were 10 and 14 years old. Although I only have one memory of them, I definitely felt their absence growing up. I know my father did too.

My Dad’s Easter Sunday is Coming

April 15, 2017March 27, 2018 Categories: HeavenTags: healing · heaven · parenthood · suffering

I have a brother and sister who died in a plane crash when they were 10 and 14 years old. Although I only have one memory of them, I definitely felt their absence growing up. My father will tell you that he still does.

5 Things I Learned from Living with an Incurable Illness

April 12, 2017April 12, 2017 Categories: It's About TrustTags: doubt · faith · healing · heaven · miracles · prayer · suffering

Seven years ago, I was having a conversation at a birthday party when I suddenly felt like I was in a dream. My voice felt far off, the room looked two-dimensional, and I couldn’t get my eyes to focus. Fifteen seconds later it stopped, but that episode was only the beginning. I started having a variety of other bizarre experiences. Sometimes it seemed like I was watching a scratched DVD — other times I would lose my words mid-sentence or forget how to type.

Mississippi Dreams that Led to a Bigger Story

September 9, 2016June 12, 2020 Categories: HeavenTags: heaven · kids

When I was in third grade, I had this dream I still remember. I was in a red-carpeted mansion with a wide staircase going up from the foyer. A beautiful woman was walking down the stairs in a white evening gown. She was my wife, and I loved her. Then I woke up.

My First Article for Christianity Today

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 Categories: HeavenTags: heaven · kids

The other day, someone asked me to name my favorite book other than the Bible. That’s impossible for me because I have seven books that meet that standard: the ones that make up C.S. Lewis’ children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Sound of Jesus’ Voice in My Daughter’s Scream

January 22, 2016January 26, 2016 Categories: It's About TrustTags: grace · heaven · kids · parenthood4 Comments

I’ve had some stressful rehearsals as a worship leader in my church, but last Sunday took the cake. While my wife and I were on the stage practicing with the band, my daughters were running around the sanctuary pretending they were queens in Narnia. I noticed they were up in the balcony at one point, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. But then over the sound of the music, I thought I heard someone screaming.

What Happened When My Daughter Went Missing

May 12, 2015May 15, 2015 Categories: HeavenTags: death · fear · healing · heaven · kids · parenthood1 Comment

The other day, I let my three-year-old daughter ride her scooter on the sidewalk in front of our house, despite my irrational fear of her suddenly being kidnapped by a random psychopath. I wasn’t especially worried about it because I was landscaping just a few feet away. Occasionally, I looked down the slope from our house to make sure she wasn’t going too far down the sidewalk.

Your Miscarriage, Remembered

May 9, 2015May 12, 2015 Categories: ParenthoodTags: death · healing · heaven · parenthood · suffering15 Comments

My mother did not expect to miscarry her first child. She was young and healthy and four months pregnant. She was too far along to miscarry. Yet in the early hours of a December morning, she began experiencing severe pain in her abdomen. It was happening.

Praise God for Difficult People and Circumstances

February 16, 2015February 18, 2015 Categories: Growing PainsTags: healing · heaven · sin · suffering

Last night, my wife and I came home and discovered that the pipes in our kitchen were frozen. For those of you who have experience with this sort of thing, you realize this is not a small problem.

We Think We’re Going to Live Forever – Because We Are

August 4, 2014August 5, 2014 Categories: HeavenTags: fear · heaven · parenthood · suffering2 Comments

Tonight, I was on my way upstairs to go to bed when I noticed a little army of ponies, dollhouse family members, and plastic toy accessories lined along the bottom step. One of my little girls had placed them there very deliberately, so I decided to leave them, rather than clean them up.

What We Do to Ruin the Moment

April 16, 2014April 19, 2014 Categories: It's About TrustTags: doubt · faith · heaven

I used to be convinced I was going to spend the rest of my life in Venezuela. I had a number of friends there, I loved the culture, and the gorgeous Venezuelan ladies treated me like a celebrity when I visited during my junior year of college. So when I got back from my visit, I spent an inordinate amount of time talking about my plans for moving. And my poor mother was one of the main victims of my endless diatribes about the new life I thought I wanted.

Saying Goodbye Wasn’t Part of the Plan

April 12, 2014April 16, 2014 Categories: HeavenTags: friendship · heaven · suffering1 Comment

One time I agreed to go tubing down a river with a bunch of friends, thinking it would be something akin to whitewater rafting. It wasn’t. We basically just sat in inner-tubes for several hours and took a slow-moving ride down a shallow river. It sounds easy enough, and generally it is, but the hard part is keeping up with all your friends.

How to Know You’re Saved

March 17, 2014July 31, 2014 Categories: This and ThatTags: Church · doubt · faith · fear · forgiveness · grace · heaven · legalism · religiousness · temptation1 Comment

A significantly modified version of this post appeared at the Boundless Blog. You can find that here. (I like them both.) I was sitting in the church service when I heard the preacher say something that made me cringe: “If you can’t remember the day you gave your heart to Jesus, then you probably never were saved in the first place.”

How I Know Dogs Go to Heaven

July 30, 2013March 6, 2016 Categories: HeavenTags: faith · heaven3 Comments

I was 10 years old when I saw my neighbor run over my dog, Spot. In a horrific flash, Spot went under the tire, thrashed around in the front yard for a few seconds and then collapsed in the ditch. I screamed out his name and ran to his side, hoping that I could somehow stop the inevitable.

Joshua Rogers

Finding God in the Ordinary

Tag: heaven