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What is Christian doctrine? And do words such as eschatology, sanctification, and atonement really have anything to do with our everyday, going-to-class, working, hanging-out-with-friends lives?

I was raised in a home where we were taught that we have voices. 

“The problem is, I can’t tell what’s real anymore, and what’s made up,” explains Peeta in the third book of the popular Hunger Games series. 

He has been tainted by the enemy, his mind twisted and turned.

Exactly like an eating disorder, I thought as I read the book.

Eating disorders are so dark, twisted, and confusing that those who have one believe that what they think in their head is actually reality.

Running a race is one of our favorite analogies from Scripture for the Christian life.

It’s Valentine’s Day (again).

I’m single (still).

On the surface, I go to church because I should, because I said I would, and because I want to model church attendance to my kids. But, if I can step outside my negativity and sense of drudgery about it, I remember that I go because I’m part of a family.

In 2003, I stepped off the train I’d taken from Chicago, in awe of God’s goodness. 

What happens when we follow God’s heart right into the midst of the urban poor?

While Jesus was on earth, he went to those who lived on the margins of life. Those folks whom society, including Christian society, wrote off and didn’t care about. He made time for them and had compassion on them. This included the physically ill. The sin-sick. And those with disabilities—the neurodiverse and people with special needs.

Are we doing the same today?

What is Christian doctrine?