Everything we have - every blessing, every talent - is a gift from our Father. The only thing that's all ours is our sin.

Some people say, "If you trust in God's unconditional love, why do you need to pray?" A better ending is "why wouldn't you want to?"

I'm a sinner. I don't always love God as strongly as I could or as directly as I should. Ash Wednesday reminds me that it is only through God that I have life; He gave it to me. God forgives. He loves. And He gives this sinner a second chance. Put simply: my God kicks ash.

People with a lot of theological study and no prayer life are dangerous... and not in a good way.

The following is a phrase we don't hear enough but that I sincerely mean (and our culture needs to hear more often): I love being married.

I'm at my 3 year-olds year-end concert. It's full of very off-key, mostly unfocused children, but this father is still beaming. Must be how God feels on Sunday.

Everything we have - every blessing, every talent - is a gift from our Father. The only thing that's all ours is our sin.