Hillcity pastor

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The fear of the Lord

It’s something I’ll never forget. The only time I have ever seen my step-dad actually angry. Like raised his voice, and most likely his blood pressure angry. Like stopped me dead in my tracks and made me reconsider all of my life’s goals and dreams angry. Like, I’ve known the man going on 31 years and it’s never going to happen again I am sure, angry. And let’s just say it wasn’t caused by something you’d expect.  My brother and…

But, it’s not my fault…

Against my better judgment, I am going to do something here that I rarely do - mention politics. I am sure little good will come of it, but I’m feeling lucky today so here goes. I am not a member of a political party. I vote based on who I think my values and ideals most closely align with, regardless of their political affiliations. Some people say I am wasting my vote, others say that it’s about weighing the lesser…

Better together

It was one of the scariest things I have ever done. I gathered a room full of people who I had led for two years, people I felt probably looked up to me, people who trusted me and thought of me as someone to share their struggles with - and now I was about to share my struggle with them. What would it cost me? Their trust? Their friendship? Their respect? My job? After all, this same issue had cost…

A side worth taking

Our culture has become incredibly polarizing in SO many areas, politics and religion chief amongst them. Both genres have so many things to KNOW, and opportunities to disagree. As a person whose life is dedicated to spreading the latter, I have found myself to be perhaps a dying breed, a moderate, in both areas. It is my experience that balance in life is important. That EACH side is capable of, and actually does have valid points, ideas, and opinions, and…

I still believe

A few weeks ago I started a new group of messages at our church called centered around the idea of belief. In the “biz” we call this a series. This particular series is called “I still believe.” Other than the incredible opportunity to use the mid 2000’s Jeremy Camp song that plagued Christian radio stations for many years (it’s actually a decent song, just overplayed), I wanted it to represent a feeling of hope I have about the things that…

Easter Sunday

I remember it like it was yesterday. The year is 2011, and the day is February 6th. My family and I have been watching together as our beloved Green Bay Packers played the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game you might have heard of called the Super Bowl. It had started off well for us, the Packers had been in the lead for the entire game, and now in the waning moments, the Steelers were attempting a comeback, in an attempt…

A quiet riot

There are two kinds of silence in this world - the kind you want, and the kind you don’t. The first is the one that all parents dream about. When your kids are young and sitting in the back seat of a car yelling at each other or asking a thousand questions, you know what it’s like to long for silence. When they fall asleep and there is nothing but the sound of their breathing to let you know they…

Bread and wine

Every once and a while someone asks me the question - ‘What would you want for your last meal ever on earth?’ As I have never been on death row or even incarcerated for that matter, I can honestly tell you, it is a question to which I have never given too much thought. Whenever I am asked, my mind immediately goes to some of my favorite foods growing up. My step-dad makes a really mean ribeye, so I think…

The hardest part

Tom Petty famously penned and sang the line ‘the waiting is the hardest part’ - and I think in most cases, I’d have to agree with him. When we were young kids, my parents used to drive us down to my grandparents farm on all the major holidays and at least a few times each summer. Grandma’s house was a magical land filled with the best of all worlds. Grandma loved to cook, and we loved food, so that lined…

Cleaning House

My wife and I are not the housecleaning type. It’s not like we live in a pigsty or anything - we do clean the house. It’s just that, given the choice between hanging out with each other or the kids and scrubbing toilets and washing floors, we will always choose the former. Growing up, my parents kept the house incredibly tidy. Floors were washed and vacuumed every Saturday, bathrooms were cleaned weekly, and beds were made on a daily basis.…