•  “I will heal their waywardness    and love them freely,    for my anger has turned away from them." - The Lord speaking through Hosea to Israel, Hosea 14:4 The words of the prophet Hosea were poignantly delivered to me in the form of a ministry charge during my ordination service. It is a powerful charge - heal their waywardness and love them freely. The two-pronged charge has become a guardrail in terms of my ministry as pastor and as chaplain. First, to heal their waywardness speaks to one of the most foundational functions of the pastoral office - healing. How does one heal waywardness? Some of the people that I encounter in ministry don't even know that they are sick or in need of healing - sure they

    Nov 30,
  • Last night, marked the final game of the 2014 season for the Colorado Rapids. In a season which began with much promise, to say the end was "disappointing" would be an understatement. The Rapids went on a 14-game winless streak to finish the season 8th in the Western Conference. With an uncertain future ahead - many of the players comprising the Rapids current roster may or may not be with the team next season. Add in the expansion drafts of 2015 which will help NYCFC and Orlando City fill out their rosters as well as the rumored dismantling of league-owned Chivas USA and there will be a tremendous amount of dismantling next season with the Rapids and around the league.

    Oct 26,
  • The evangelist, D.L. Moody once said, "Character is what you are in the dark." Who are we when no one is looking? Who are we when no one is around? Perhaps, for the professional athlete, this question seems irrelevant - much of the professional life is spent in front of cameras, events and comments are captured by smartphones, minutia is tweeted, facebooked, instagrammed and more.  Is there any dark in an athletes' life? Is there any moment when the crowds or coaches, family or friends aren't watching? Well, regardless if we are professional athletes or have another vocational capacity there are no moments when we are ever truly alone or unseen. Proverbs 15:3 tells us, The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,

    Sep 07,
  • Through the course of my life's work, there have been many moments in which I have been confronted with death. Perhaps this has made me more melancholy as I age; however, there is for me a realization that many of these places - difficult as they may be, are sacred spaces or "thin places" as the Celtic people use to call them. Thin places were those places where heaven and earth seemed to touch - there is a solemnity to many of these moments and sometimes there is a strange sense of relief, even joy for those that are present when someone they love dies. In more recent years, there have been several babies and young children whom I have

    Aug 24,
  • If you are part of the CrossTraining or Colorado Rapids community, we have been praying for a former player and his wife and their three children that were recently born. Today, one of the babies, a girl, died from complications. The other two are clinging to life in the neonatal unit and there are many prayers that are being said on their behalf and for this husband and wife. For my own family, we have wept tears in knowing that this couple have lost a child. In these times, as people of faith, we are confronted with the question of, What do we do with the enigma of unanswered prayers? For some, unanswered prayers can become a breaking point of one's

    Aug 17,

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