Despite the expected blessings, sometimes the road can be rough. This merging of joy and suffering is likely why the Christian’s life of faith has often been compared to a journey.

I didn’t know this would lead to my own heart-rending walk down memory lane.

At 18 years old, Terry Fox, named athlete of the year in grade 12, was diagnosed with an aggressive malignant type of bone cancer. Then he inspired a nation.

The danger of assumptions has existed throughout human history. I wonder if assumptions were at the heart of one of the great spiritual tragedies recorded in Scripture.

July 3 is Global Bereaved Parent Day.

We cannot help imitating those around us. From accents and food preferences to spending habits and character traits, we become like those around us.

Being preoccupied with death is not the biblical way for the people of God.

Faith is a lifelong journey of growth and transformation that culminates in being conformed into the likeness of Christ.

Encouragement is one way God gives strength to his weary people.

The Bible doesn’t talk about hospitality like it’s a gift that some people have and others don’t, and if you don’t have it, you’re exempt from practicing it.

The world does not need more Christians who blend in so completely that there is no visible difference.

I’m speaking of the work of Marlene Veenstra, who had a song in her head one day and decided to put the words of our Reformed heritage to music.

As a CRCNA church planter from 1984 to 2014, my colleagues and I asked the same question a thousand times: What went wrong that our churches failed to grow?

Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing global crime.

Proverbs returns to this subject again and again, with well over 150 proverbs about how we speak to one another.

There’s a chair in leadership that gets overlooked. It’s not the seat a pastor holds, or the chair people imagine when they think of influence or authority.

Indignation about one thing quickly bleeds over into ranting about another, creating a downward funnel that swiftly thrusts its victims into “utter darkness.”

We have let our fast-paced, sound-bite society take away our greatest source of comfort and strength. Busyness dulls our desire and our understanding of God’s Word.

To discern what is true and right requires knowing God, not just knowing about God.

It began with nothing in particular. A man settled into his favorite chair one evening, tired from a long day, and reached for his phone the way he always did.

As an Indigenous man, I received my traditional name later in life, because of the disconnect from my own people due to being part of the “Sixties Scoop” generation

Apparently, in back-to-back Sunday sermons, I had left the authors of those two emails with the exact opposite impression.

My church was one of the Christian Reformed churches that stopped offering a formal catechism class for young people. It’s been at least 25 years.