When the Islamic State drove Christians from their homes in northern Iraq in 2014, Mathi Habib Khodor and his wife Nazik took their six children and fled. Now, six years later they have been able to seek refuge from Covid-19 back in their house, rebuilt after it was destroyed. “We decorated the house so thatContinue reading “ISIS Could Not Stop Christians”
Author Archives: Intentional Faith
God’s Systems Engineer
Before I had children, I worked as a systems engineer at NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Through my career, I met a lot of brilliant scientists and engineers who were committed Christians. But I also encountered a lot of intellectual skepticism to Christianity, especially on the question of God’s existence.Continue reading “God’s Systems Engineer”
Body Building
When’s the last time you paused to ponder the wonder of feet? Not just their oddness and elegance, but the fact that humans have them at all. Unlike plants and trees, we are not tethered in place by roots. We are not left to wait for the world to come to us. Rather, we canContinue reading “Body Building”
Let’s Not Pretend
It feels like the start of a new season – holidays are over, schools are open and we go again. This season, though, feels a bit ill-fitting. We had a holiday, which we were very grateful for, but not as much time off as we’d normally have as part of the many who’ve been doingContinue reading “Let’s Not Pretend”
Pastor Will Go to Jail Rather Than Not Have Church
“I’m open for a jail ministry – bring it on.” These were the fighting words from California pastor John MacArthur, who is happy to risk prison time by keeping his church open. MacArthur, the senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Greater Los Angeles, is putting The First Amendment to the test in the modernContinue reading “Pastor Will Go to Jail Rather Than Not Have Church”
How Do You Like Your Coffee
Café au lait. My grandmother crafted my first taste of the ambrosial drink that combines hot black coffee and hot milk, loading it for me with sugar.And I wasn’t the only 7-year-old enjoying java. I was raised in south Louisiana, where children begin their love affair with coffee by starting with café au lait. OurContinue reading “How Do You Like Your Coffee”
Two Sides of the Same Coin
What is important in life? Who better to ponder such imponderables than Solomon, widely regarded as the wisest man in the world? Yet when read together, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs offer not an answer but a paradox: the emptiness of the world versus the fullness of love.Paradoxes, like this one, are propositions that seemContinue reading “Two Sides of the Same Coin”
Are We Facing a Totalitarian Threat
Reading Rod Dreher’s newest book, Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, brought to mind a song from Christian contemporary singer Carman in my early youth-group days: “America Again.” The song praises the founding fathers and the early American story before shifting to a litany of sins engulfing the nation in the mid-1990sContinue reading “Are We Facing a Totalitarian Threat”
When You Just Can’t Stay
You know marriage is sacred. You committed before friends, family, and God to love your partner “for as long as you both shall live.” But the violence has gotten worse. What started as an occasional angry outburst has become pushing, hitting, and other scary encounters. You may feel ashamed, sad, angry, or a whole mixContinue reading “When You Just Can’t Stay”
Know Your Heretics
The Rise of the Judaizers A problem arose in the early church when the apostles took the gospel of Jesus to Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles. When Gentiles responded to the gospel, a conflict arose that threatened to divide the church. A group called the Judaizers opposed Paul and Barnabas at the Council of Jerusalem (ADContinue reading “Know Your Heretics”
