Author Archives: salooper57

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About salooper57

Husband, father, pastor, follower. I am a disciple of Jesus, learning how to do life from him. I read, write, walk, play a little guitar, enjoy my family.

Christianity’s Answer to America’s Identity Crisis

Posted on June 27, 2015 by salooper57

America is going through an identity crisis. The “live for today” approach to life – or, more precisely, the “live for how I feel today” approach to life – has disconnected us from our past and from our roots. The … Continue reading →

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Things I’m glad my dad didn’t teach me

Posted on June 20, 2015 by salooper57

After reading an article by Peter Scholl, a forty-something married man with kids, living in Australia, I find myself grateful for the things my dad didn’t teach me. Scholl reflects on what contemporary culture teaches boys and men about their … Continue reading →

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Hit by a pornographic tsunami

Posted on June 13, 2015 by salooper57

Recent survey data reveals that 68 percent of men who describe themselves as Christians – so approximately seven out of every ten Christian men in America – look at pornography. That is true even though 65 percent of all American … Continue reading →

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Why I’m Still an Evangelical

Posted on June 6, 2015 by salooper57

In 1987, the controversial Catholic priest Hans Kung famously published a book titled, “Why I am Still a Christian.” For some reason that book, which I read many years ago, came back to my mind recently, and started me thinking … Continue reading →

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From what area code does this call originate?

Posted on May 30, 2015 by salooper57

Kym Ackerman left her dental appointment in Flagstaff, Arizona with a numinous feeling of wonder. On an X-ray of her left-side molars, she had just seen the image of Jesus. According to The Huffington Post, Ackerman explained that her mother … Continue reading →

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Safe on the other side of the impossible

Posted on May 23, 2015 by salooper57

Malcolm Gladwell, author of David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, retold the story of David and Goliath for a TED talk in 2013. He told his audience that over the course of writing his book … Continue reading →

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Escape from the “Big Me” culture

Posted on May 16, 2015 by salooper57

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently released a new book titled The Road to Character (Random House). In an interview for Christianity Today with Jeff Haanen of the Denver Institute for Faith & Work, Brooks talked about what he … Continue reading →

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Creation’s biggest risk and its biggest reward

Posted on May 9, 2015 by salooper57

God paints on a big canvas. Traveling across our average-sized galaxy at the speed of light would take approximately 100,000 years. And the universe holds an estimated one hundred billion such galaxies. Some physicists believe that the universe itself is … Continue reading →

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The most daring and imaginative artist ever

Posted on May 2, 2015 by salooper57

Creation is a work of art, and as with any work of art, as we immerse ourselves in it, we learn something about ourselves. But we also learn something about the Artist. We learn that he is creative. He is, … Continue reading →

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Don’t carry invasive beliefs into church

Posted on April 25, 2015 by salooper57

There are boot brushes at the trailheads to several of our favorite places to hike, with signs instructing hikers to clean their boots. Most people want to clean their boots after hiking, not before. But these trailheads lead into nature … Continue reading →

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