“How did you get here?”

This is what I imagine the angel at heaven’s gate asking when this former thief showed up in heaven. How could this man marked by sin up until his death suddenly be allowed in heaven?

I'm a chronic snoozer. It doesn't matter how long I have slept, how many alarms I have set, or the location of my alarm clock. 99.9% of the time, I hit the snooze button. In college, I bought a round alarm clock that vibrated and would roll off the bedside table. You had to get up and locate the rolling alarm clock to turn the alarm off. Still, I snoozed.

Goodness is difficult to define if you truly think about it. You could ask 100 people to define goodness, and you will get 100 different answers. But one crucial lesson we can all learn is that goodness can exist even when it does not feel like it is present. This can be a struggle for a lot of us as we are conditioned to associate good things with positive feelings such as joy and excitement. But if goodness were tied to emotions, it would be inconsistent and shaky.

As we had never attended church regularly as a family, I couldn't imagine what Port City Church would come to mean to us and for us. So far from home and more seekers than believers, we were reserved, watchful, quiet consumers. Did we fit in? Were we "church goers" now? Did that label fit? Did we feel that sense of belonging in this new place?

When was the last time you heard some good news? I mean, real good news? The type of news that gets your heart racing, or the type of good news that once you hear it you cannot think of anything else?

A debate has been raging through the ages: real vs. artificial Christmas tree? After what happened to several friends, you can count me firmly in the artificial camp. A few years back, our friends purchased a “perfect” Christmas tree at a local lot. They took it home, adorned it with all their ornaments, and started placing gifts beneath it…

Bad reality television shows are one of my guilty pleasures. Even though I know a good portion of the "reality" I'm watching is scripted, I still tune in. It's the train wreck principle at play - you know it's a mess, but you can't help but watch. As the drama unfolds, the chaos in my own life suddenly doesn't look so bad…

$31,258,012,754,125

As I type these words, that total serves as the US National Debt. Correction. That's a lie. It just went up 4 million dollars in the amount of time it took me to type out my first sentence…

A few summers ago, my wife and I were in California for a family wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony for two people head over heels in love with each other…

To save a few bucks, we recently cut the cord - goodbye cable, hello digital antenna. Unfortunately, even though this decision helps our budget's bottom line, it drastically reduces our viewing options…

Very few people had more of an impact on my childhood than my Great Aunt Dotty. Her kind and compassionate heart were second to none. As soon I'd get off the school bus, I'd head to the living room where Dotty was inevitably sitting in her recliner watching Days of Our Lives…

My freshman year of high school, I got sick. Really sick. I had to leave school and live in the hospital for several months to receive treatment. The hospital I was sent to was located in Baltimore, Maryland—over 400 miles away from home. I was at my lowest. I didn’t want to fight my illness anymore. It felt too difficult, and I was exhausted. I had all but accepted defeat. I was angry with God, angry with my circumstances, and angry with the world. 

When I was in college, I fell in love with paddle boarding. I worked part-time at a local shop that wanted to begin paddleboarding tours at Bald Head. Although I didn't know much about it at the time, I was willing to learn and didn't want to pass up an opportunity to spend the day on the water. So I volunteered to lead as many lessons and tours as possible and quickly discovered where I most felt at peace. It was serene and beautiful. Looking around, I felt incomprehensibly small in the grand view of the world surrounding me. It wasn't a diminishing type of small, but more a comforting kind that reminded me I wasn't in control. The weight of the challenges in this world weren't mine to carry.

If it were up to my dad, you wouldn't be reading this devotional because it wouldn't exist. Before you get the wrong impression, let me reassure you that he isn't anti-religion or faith; he is just that much of a golf fan…

We have a sign in our house that says, ‘His law is LOVE’. I don’t know where the idea for the sign originated, but it purposefully hangs by our kitchen table. Over the years, our kids have asked about it, and we have shared that Jesus tells us the greatest command is to love God, and the second is like it, to love our neighbor. We usually talk about the importance of being loving and kind and even helpful when we can, but as they have gotten a little older, we’ve been able to talk more directly about love.

Doing something scary is a little less intimidating when watching someone else do it first. Growing up, my family often visited Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ. There is a tall cliff at the park that (brave) visitors jump off into the raging river below. As a kid, I was terrified of leaping. It was only after I had watched my dad and brothers dive in (and make it out alive) for several years in a row that I felt ready to jump. They assured me that though the freefall was terrifying, it would be oh-so rewarding in the end.

Our verse today is one that leans towards the more-well-known parts of Scripture, and one that people enjoy reading since it is an incredible promise that Christ followers are given. The confession of our sins leads to our forgiveness from those sins.

I came across an interesting statistic recently. Researchers say that 16 to 20% of all students have high test anxiety. I was one of them. The fear of making a mistake always got the better of me. I worried about having enough time, if all my studying would make a difference, and what would happen if I got a bad grade…

As the skies opened up, I resigned myself to the fact that I was more than likely going to die on The Beltway. I was on my way to visit my family in Maryland when a massive storm flooded the roads and provided zero visibility. Did I forget to mention this took place conveniently during…

Here I sit utterly spent. Everything in me wants to mail it in and post a devotional re-run or blame the email service for it "accidentally" not appearing in your inbox this morning…