Welcome to my blog!

Everyday Theology started as a weekly column for The Mart Texan newspaper. I have always been interested in writing a regular thought piece, and in Mart received the invitation and opportunity to do so from the publisher of the Texan, Mrs. Carolyn Potts.

I balked at the opportunity for a couple of years, mostly because I was unsure I wanted to make a regular, weekly commitment to write something. I didn’t even remember when I had started until I went through back issues to make this collection.

One of the things I enjoy about writing is coming up with titles that reach out and grab the reader and yell, “READ ME!” I realize that “Everyday Theology” is not such a title. For this regular, weekly column, I thought it more important to choose a title that was broad enough to cover every week. I wanted to give readers something easy to find.

I choose this title because so many people say they are not theologians. While this may be professionally true, we do all understand God in terms of our lives, and vice versa. For those of us who believe in God, we each face the world with what we understand of God. When we say we believe one thing about God and we act differently, our actions speak more truthfully than our words.

I want to connect God with the everyday lives of Christians. There is nothing God wants more than for his people to live everyday in his love and presence. How we deal with everyday experiences offers evidence of what we really believe about God’s presence and love for us.

I have said previously, and believe more strongly all the time; “if we say we believe in God, then God must make some difference in our lives.” Can anyone tell from how we live our lives that we believe in God? What do others see in you and me that others will find to be credible evidence that we believe in God?

Beyond mere belief in God, a belief which is about as useful as belief in air, Christians have a God worth believing in! We have a God who became human for us in the person of Jesus Christ. We believe in a God who has been where we are; He was in the midst of a human life filled with happiness, sadness, frustration, elation, betrayal, loneliness, hope, and joy.

You may be wondering why I included loneliness above. Jesus willingly took on Himself separation from the Father when he came to earth. He felt full separation from from the Father when on the cross he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus had access to the Father in exactly the same way we do. Like us, Jesus prayed and worshipped the Father. Like us, Jesus also thrived in being surrounded by friends who shared his vision. He thrived, also, by knowing the Father was at work in the world all around him.

We ought to be able to see God’s work all around us. I hope these columns help you to do that a little more than you did before you read them.