I was asked to preach at a wedding a few years back, and the couple wanted Ephesians 5. Every pastor who's done more than a handful of weddings knows the particular flinch that request produces… half honor, half dread… because you know you're about to stand in front of a room that's heard this passage wielded as a leash far more often than they've heard it preached as love that empties itself to the point of death. You spend the drive over rehearsing how you're going to get t

The feeling is starting to creep back in. The swirling in my gut. The long stares at my headboard. My feet moving slower. A gnawing sense...

I grew up in a Pentecostal church. I have believed in God all my life. But I was raised to fear God. Not in a respectful fear kind of...