Even extraverts need regular times of solitude to stay spiritually healthy. Ian Marcus Corbin, philosopher and research fellow at Harvard Medical School, reminds us: “…Befriending oneself is a prerequisite for becoming a true friend to others. We do this by sitting quietly alone, coming to terms with who and what we are, forging some order out of the riot of … Read More
Listening Conversations and Diverse Friendships
Listening is rudimentary to being a good human; it’s one of the most fundamental forms of respect. Further, it’s a basic signifier of our humility. And our wisdom: Proverbs tells us it’s only the fool that utters all his mind[1] and “He that answers a matter before listening it is a folly and shame to him.”[2] The fundamental loss of … Read More
Responding to Culture Shifts
One of the many things I’m grateful to my mom for is passing on some of her dad’s books and correspondence to me. My grandfather, Ralph Whitson Seaman, was a Lutheran minister with excellent diction, a gift for learning languages, and a fascination for words. He also had a good sense of humor. At that time, his denomination and others … Read More
EXCLUSIVE PRAYER & MINISTRY UPDATE- 071422
Hi Friends, I hope your summer is going well. Pam and I are in St. John on vacation and I wanted to share an update with you. Care Net: Care Net’s pace has not let up this year and, on this side of the pandemic, I have been doing a lot of speaking and traveling. Most recently I have done … Read More
Why Call God Father and Not Mother or Parent?
The answer to this question may be partly cultural and due to “Israel’s temptation to follow after fertility Gods.”[1] Missiologist and Fuller Theological Seminary professor Scott Sunquist also notes: “Why not Mother?” The simple answer is that we are not given “Mother” as a name for God. The deeper reason may be that “mother’ or “mother earth” were designations for … Read More
Carrying the Fire
Hey Friends, The book is almost finished! I appreciate your prayers regarding the logistics of pulling everything together in the next few weeks. Here’s a peek at the Introduction: I wasn’t into zombies or The Walking Dead franchise as much as my kids were, but I have enjoyed other post-apocalyptic expressions like The Terminator, The Hunger Games, and Cormac McCarthy’s … Read More
How Parenting Teaches Us About God’s Heart
To all the fathers out there, Happy Father’s Day! In the Bible, what is said about God often makes use of what theologians have traditionally called anthropomorphic language; that is, language that speaks of God in human terms. For example, we might talk about “the eyes of the Lord” or “the long arm of the Lord.” Other places in Scripture … Read More
Hero-dads are Inadequate to Provide for All of Their Kid’s Needs
It was the morning of July 19, 2014—the day after my oldest son’s wedding—and I was lost in thought. Just the night before, at the glorious end of a full day of celebration, Pam and I had watched as he, his beautiful bride, and many friends danced with all their hearts to Coldplay’s “Sky Full of Stars.” Standing there, watching … Read More
Hero-dads grow in competence to influence
Dads who come out of their caves learn to care about their communities. They are like the dad connected to the virtuous woman in Prov. 31: “Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land” (23, ESV). To sit by the city gates was to sit among the civic leaders: listening, discussing problems, … Read More
Hero-Dads Avoid Isolation
“I knew he loved me… but he would lock himself away.” I’ve heard many versions of this in my pastoral ministry over the years and it’s a real problem. Batman may do some of his best work in his cave, but hero-dads need to think through the healthy and unhealthy parts of isolation– including our legitimate need for solitude, quietness, … Read More