Recently there has been talk about making Christmas bigger and better than ever. And something about this just hasn’t set right with me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and big family gatherings and all the festivities around the church. But bigger and better than ever? I’m not quite sure those are…
Category: incarnation
noisy bells
When our first born son was around four years old we thought it was time to introduce him to the book The Polar Express. After all, he loved trains and it seemed like the right thing to do for Christmas. And in true good parenting fashion we decided we should also introduce him to the…
free hugs
The year was 2005…at least I think it was. And my wife and I were attending a youth conference in good ‘ol Nashville, TN. We were returning to the exhibit hall after lunch and had some take-out from the restaurant with us when we saw a homeless man on the sidewalk. I approached him and…
fragile
Sometimes there’s a word that keeps coming up in your world regardless of the context. For instance, as many of you know, the Arps are in the process of moving. And so on many of the boxes that contained our earthly possessions we printed the word “Fragile”. And not because we are necessarily particularly fond…
where you at
As most of you who occasionally read this blog know I am a very urban person. I am always up on modern lingo and so throwing out a title like, ‘where u at’ should in no way be surprising. In fact I am always hip to the jive talk of youngsters around me and therefore…
good flintonians
The story goes a bit like this. I received a call from a mother of a student last Sunday as I was getting ready to head home. Evidently her son had gotten a flat tire and was stranded on the side of the road having never really changed a tire before. So I gallantly rode…
a bit wordy
There is a scene in the 1998 animated feature “The Prince of Egypt” that I absolutely love. And I think it’s because its also a scene in scripture that I absolutely love. Moses stands before the burning bush i.e. the very presence of YHWH and starts to make excuses for going before pharaoh and the…
in the flesh
A few weeks ago we were all sitting around in the living room and my then fourteen month old decided to babble some incoherent baby talk. And all of a sudden our six-year old exclaimed, “She talked. In person like us. She talked in person.” He was so excited by his revelation. You have to…
