About

I want to inspire you with real hope.

We live in pain, but we were made for pleasure. When we understand God’s story, through Jesus’ perspective, it gives us unique resources for enduring the pain, and reclaiming the pleasure. My blog posts clarify how God transforms our personal stories and shows us, no matter how desperate our circumstances, we are important characters in a wonderful epic.

Sam Gamgee from “Lord of the Rings” said it best:

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Sometimes life forces you along arduous paths full of darkness and danger. You may be tempted to wonder how your journey can end well. But take heart, the greatest stories have always been full of darkness and danger. Remember, you are only in the middle of the story. The end is yet to come.

Describing Jesus, John the apostle said, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5). If we can take any hope from the story that God is writing through Jesus it is this — the darkness must pass.

Jesus’ story has captivated me since I was a junior in high school and heard it afresh at a Young Life camp in New York.  For 21 years I shared this epic story with college students across Pennsylvania as a campus minister with DiscipleMakers. In August 2017, I received a new call to share it in Lancaster, PA where I serve as the pastor of adult ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

In 1998, my wife Marty joined me for the journey. We now have five children who tag along with us. I graduated from Bucknell University (BS Biology, 1996), and Biblical Theological Seminary (M.Div, 2003). I’ve been ordained in the Presbyterian Church of America since 2005.

I usually post twice a month but I am taking a break to adjust to my new pastoral position at Westminster.

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