The Pastoral Grind

Retirement... Well folks, I have summoned you to this low-key press conference to announce my retirement from the Grind.  I have not had time with school, ministry work, and other things this semester to write faithfully for which I'm disappointed, but I have to take this break.  I'm hoping this will be the kind of retirement that was seen from Michael Jordan in the mid-90s and countless others since then, and sometime in the near future I hope to rededicate myself to this.  I'm thankful for all who have followed, challenged, and encouraged me over the past half year, and if you're wanting to keep tabs on me, I invite you to follow through Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.

English: Bible in candlelight. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Crisis of Scripture... Growing up in traditional Christian Reformed churches and attending Christian schools all of my life, the Bible holds a special place for me.  Before this starts to sound like I'm holier than all of you, let me be clear that I have never really been great with daily personal devotions and even struggle at times now.  That being said, there have been very few days in my life where the Bible has not been opened whether in personal or family devotions, in class, or at church.  I've grown up hearing the language of the Bible as "God's Word," "inspired by God," and "God-breathed." The circles I've been in recognize human authorship, but for myself (and I'm guessing for the majority of my brothers and sisters) "God-breathed" means that God spoke words to men to be written down.  That being said, I recognize that the canon (which books are h

sermon preparation (Photo credit: AngloBaptist ) As my every other week blogging continues (this time because I'm heading to Mexico on Tuesday), I find myself reflecting on the service and message I led last night.  I preached on Romans 8 through the lens of the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 1 , taking a look at what it means to belong .  Early last week I got back from Indiana for the holidays and was celebrating Christmas/New Year's with family in Holland, and I felt at ease with the preparation I had to do.  All of a sudden it's Friday though, and I'm doing an overhaul of the message because I realized I had forced my hand and not let God work.  The weekend begins, my head is thinking through all the things that need to get done before I leave on this upcoming trip, and when I stand up at 6:00 on Sunday night I feel like I'm boring the congregation and that I must be reading some one else's manuscript because the few times I look up (though I'