XtianNinja
Full-time, Christian variety content creator building an open, encouraging, and meaningful online family through gaming, real talk, and God's truth.
I spoke on Meditation this week, beginning with a story of a man named Robin. Do you see yourself in his story? Robin wakes up once again to the beeping of the alarm clock, and hits snooze one more to see if he can squeeze out nine more minutes of sleep from his morning. He didn’t go to bed […]
While writing this article I was reminded about this song by Casting Crowns called “Does Anybody Hear Her” which seems to hit the nail on the head. Do Churches Still Help? I had a conversation recently where we were discussing the place of “para-church ministries” within the realm of global and local missions and it dawned on me that North […]
Oh toothpaste, how you have let me down! You promise so many things! In your TV commercials you tell me that no person can respect, love or enjoy the company of someone without shiny, white teeth. You tell me that the reason that I’m not successful in life is because my choppers are too dull. You say that if my […]
I was invited for an “Ask The Pastor” night last week and brought along this handout I’d been working on. I sat in front of the white board and asked myself “If I am going to help the people in this church grow as Christians, then what does a fully functional disciple of Jesus look like?” And I started to […]
Did you know… … a cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers. … C3P0 is the first character to speak in Star Wars. … the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust is aluminum. … there are 1189 chapters in the Bible: 929 chapters in the Old Testament […]
I’ve seen some wonderful miracles throughout my life, and this past year has been even more amazing. Sometimes I get miracle and coincidence confused, but not this year — it’s been pretty obvious. I’ve been unemployed or underemployed for almost a whole year now, and even though it’s been financially tough, we have seen God show up and miraculously provide […]
Part of getting to know someone is asking them what kind of music they like. That question seems to rank close to “What do you do?” and “Where are you from?” when we are looking to understand someone better. I have a hard time with that question! I listen to so many different styles that it confuses my poor […]
Matthew 6:19-34, John 15:5-8 are key verses to read and know if we are to understand life as a Christian. They are encouraging, reassuring and powerful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read them or referenced them in sermons. Life with Jesus is meant to be a life where our worries are minimized, our joy is maximized, and where […]
I almost went back on Facebook this last week. I had left “the social network” quite some time ago for a myriad of reasons. It was taking up a lot of time, feeding my pride, and when a friend told me Facebook was a contributing factor to his adultery, it was the last straw and I deleted my account. It […]
I recently began a sermon series called Plug In: The Spiritual Disciplines, where I plan on going through 10 weeks of study on different ways we can meet God, know more about Him, understand our faith, and grow closer to Jesus. This was given as the first sermon in the series. I realized after the service that it was too […]
Did you know you can use salt to put out a fire? In fact, if you have a kitchen grease fire (and don’t have a fire-extinguisher) you shouldn’t use water, but instead cover it with salt. Why bring this up? Because there are some people out there reading this who need to use their salt (Col 4:5-6) to put out […]
Discernment When my daughter Eowyn was very little, she took it upon herself to simplift the alphabet. She’s replaced all the C’s, G’s, and K’s with the letter D. It was cute, (and if it caught on, would have made spelling a lot easier) but it made her difficult to understand at times. “Daddy, dan I have some dum or dandy […]
I read recently about the importance of eating slowly. Here’s a quote: “Most Americans eat too fast, and, as a result, they take in too many calories before they realize they’ve eaten enough. It takes approximately 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to send out signals of fullness.” (source) Wow! 20 minutes?!? I finish my […]
I wrote this article a while back for ChristianWeek and it feels like it’s time to resurrect it. Pastor: “How you doin’ Bob?” Bob: “I’m so busy I can’t catch my breath!” Pastor: “How are the kids, Bob?” Bob: “They’re busy! I can’t find them most days.” Pastor: “How’s your wife, Bob?” Bob: “Really busy…I think…I haven’t talked with her […]
I recently spoke at the 165th anniversary celebration for Beckwith Baptist, a church in the Ottawa area. I got a lot of comments and requests for the text, so I thought I’d post it here this week. It’s based on Acts 2:42-47. — A Good Church If you ask the question, “What is a church?” a lot of people will […]
Ok, I’ll admit that this may come across a little rant-ish, but I want to give a message to those who are Consistently Late for Church. You may want to print this one and pass it around. (First obvious question: “Are you talking about a certain person/family?”, the answer is “No. This problem is quite broad spread.” Second obvious question: “Does […]
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