It is a strange irony, but in a world drunk on violence, it is only on the cross of violence that there is hope for peace in our world.

This is the kind of interview that could have been 4 hours and ranged from everything from ethics to REM to “virtue signaling” and Bob Dylan. David Zahl is the founder of Mockingbird Ministries which does some of the kind of stuff we like to do here at Virtue in the Wasteland, in fact, we like to think of them as our more distinguished East Coast colleagues

What do Habakkuk and Israel have? Nothing but the word of God. Nothing but the promise of God. Nothing but God himself. They have the vision that Yahweh gives, the words of hope he utters. And that, amazingly, is enough.

In the last two decades U.S. Americans have given way to fear of many things: economic decline, loss of values, limits on our personal rights, to name a few. Too many of us live with some sense of threat and menace hanging over our heads and haunting our hearts.

Nicodemus, like us, does not really have phantoms and dragons in his head. He has just one demon, one virus, one malady: he lives in fear.

She was the kind of woman in whom I see myself, in whom thousands of us see our own reflections. So often our lives seem pointless, a vain existence in a world that worships vanity.

You can see it far off, looming on the horizon, a thick fog menacing off the coast and swirling in the distance. You know the signs.

Our goal is to proclaim the genuine good news—that’s what “Gospel” means—of Christ’s forgiveness for you. We do not offer you better tips, techniques or checklists. Instead, You Are Forgiven is sermons by faithful pastors who will clearly show how you cannot be forgiven by your own efforts, no matter how well you do on your homework, your checklist of tasks. But they will also show how you are actually and already forgiven because Jesus has done all that is needed, for you!

It seems like the sky is falling every other day now. From politics to culture to religion to about anything else, there’s one purported cataclysm after another on the horizon.

Our goal is to proclaim the genuine good news—that’s what “Gospel” means—of Christ’s forgiveness for you. We do not offer you better tips, techniques or checklists. Instead, You Are Forgiven is sermons by faithful pastors who will clearly show how you cannot be forgiven by your own efforts, no matter how well you do on your homework, your checklist of tasks. But they will also show how you are actually and already forgiven because Jesus has done all that is needed, for you!

The question is not can I lose my salvation, but can salvation lose me? No, it can’t.

My husband and I just adopted Duke, a very cute beagle mix, from a nearby shelter. He is about three years old and was found wandering in a park several months ago.