Featured Story: God Doesn’t Know Me
I’m excited that my conversion story, “God Doesn’t Know Me,” is featured in the Coming Home Network’s September 2024 newsletter.
What Is The Journey?
I’ve often been asked by Evangelical friends how I could possibly become Catholic. And, I’ve been asked by intensely curious Catholics how a trip on Azusa Street could lead to Rome, without constant warnings of “recalculating” and “make U-turn now.”
When I was about 12 years old, I had my first experience with Pentecostalism. I didn’t know it then, but…
Walk with me, and chase a few squirrels along the way
Eucharistic Revival: You are not alone
Tears welled as I sat in Lucas Oil Stadium for the National Eucharistic Congress. Since I’d left a Pentecostal church more than 30 years ago, I’d steadfastly avoided what I considered religious emotionalism. As I gazed around the stadium, four words came to mind: “You are not alone.”
The Journey: Time travel with Jesus
One of the mind-blowing ideas I encountered through the Catholic church is the understanding that God – who is not bound by time or place – can remove those barriers for us.
The Journey: A Chip on my Shoulder
When I entered the Catholic church, I left a piece of my heart in the Evangelical world. Yet I spent many years with a chip on my shoulder.
The Journey: The Mudroom of Heaven
Why are our concepts of life after death so varied? I believe this comes from our overall discomfort with death – our mortality and that of our loved ones.
The Journey: My father’s last goodbye
As I walked from his room, my dad called me back. “I just wanted to say I love you,” he said. As it turned out, those were the last words I would ever hear from him.
The Journey: Traditions of man
If the Catholics had gotten it right – or even mostly right – about the Bible, I felt compelled as a Bible-believing Christian to examine their teachings.
The Journey: Brother, are you saved?
The Calvinists would tell me it wasn’t my fault; I simply was not elected for salvation. My once-saved-always-saved friends would tell me I must never have been saved to begin with. However, my Catholic brothers welcome me as a fellow pilgrim on a lifelong journey of conversion.
The Journey: The edge of atheism
Socrates found the unexamined life not worth living. I agree, but only in part. For me, my faith, the people I love, and the beauty of the world make life very much worth living. But, an examined life can be intensely fascinating for the unafraid.
Is religion dying in America?
The Pew Research Center recently found that 27 percent of Americans think of themselves as spiritual but not religious. The New York Times calls them “Americans who seem to want some connection to the divine, but who don’t feel affiliated with traditional religion.”
The Journey: Why not me, God?
As I stood, awkward and embarrassed, in front of the packed room, I had my first encounter with a fear that God does not know me. Why would every child in that line experience God, except me?
The Journey: Thomas wasn’t the only doubter
I’ve met Christians who never seem to experience doubt. We can call them blessed. However, God used Thomas’ doubt as a lesson for the rest of us.
My name is Jeff, and I am Canadian
Canada! As soon as I read it, I knew that was the answer. Proof positive that I am Canadian. With the help of that yellowed news clip I realized the truth that had always been there … hidden just beyond the obvious.
Just who do you think you are?
To be fair, I can be a bit of a dreamer with the bad habit of thinking aloud. And that’s the kind of thing that can frighten a blushing bride’s mother.
Playing Dodgeball with Dylan
To be honest, there are labels I apply to myself. I am Christian and Catholic and would call myself both evangelical and pro-life. And yet I hate the idea that others believe they can understand much about me based on those labels.
Brace for impact …
If I had a near death experience, you’d think I’d know it. But, apparently I had one in December and was among the last to recognize it.
Life after death
Is there life after death? The death of spirit? The death of one’s social identity? The living death of a priest wounded by his humanity, and shunned by the scandalized parishioners he once counted as family?