Part 1. People say the darndest things — sometimes to preachers. This begins a blog series on some of those things that have been said to me over the years. Here’s one: “I tried prayer, but it didn’t work.” Sitting squarely in the middle of this declaration is the belief that prayer is something purely utilitarian....

  The word is out: I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I found out just before the holidays last year. I didn’t immediately share it with the social media world for several reasons. For one, I’m a pretty private person who’s not big on airing angsty posts on Facebook....

  United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton tells this story: “A woman in my congregation, after years of fertility treatments, finally conceived. She and her husband were filled with joy. But early in the pregnancy she became extremely ill. By her fifth month, doctors informed her that if she continued to...

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV) Today, on this National Day of Prayer, my mind went back to an email conversation that I had with a skeptical friend many years ago. He had sent me a link to a...

There is a scene in The Forgotten Carols, playing at the Artisan Center Theater in Hurst, TX, where I pray for the female lead character, a hard-boiled woman named Constance. As I do so, a crowd of people slip in from various corners of the stage, singing the refrain, “We...