Allie was in tears on the other side of the phone, and I didn't know how to comfort her. She had just successfully birthed the most complicated baby she had ever carried. We had been in and out of the hospital most of the pregnancy, and for several weeks, Allie was all but bedridden and wheelchair bound. When the day finally came, he was three weeks early, and a little underweight. But he was healthy!  Read More

Right before he got up to preach, he said, "I don't feel well," grabbed my mom's shoulder, and collapsed to the ground. What started out as a normal Sunday changed our family forever.  Read More

"Your God is too small," a friend told me. He said that most of my problems in life could be chalked up to my small view of God. At first, I thought that was absurd. I was offended! My view of God wasn't too small! Yet, as I thought about it, he was right. God is so magnificently gargantuan that my finite mind had no chance of fully grasping his enormity. But my biggest problem wasn't my ability to wrap my mind around God. It was that I had shrunk him down to something manageable. Something like... me. He was just a little smarter and bigger.  Read More

In Hans Christian Andersen's story called "The Emperor Who Had New Clothes," we meet a sovereign that is known for his love of fashion and often spent lavishly on the finest clothing. Because of this, two con artists role into town and they set their eyes on him. These two con men convince the emperor that they can make him beautiful magical clothes that only look invisible to stupid people. The emperor excitedly agrees to buy this unique and exciting outfit.  Read More

Have you ever prayed that God would open a door for you? I know I have. Perhaps, you know someone that after life took an unexpectedly good turn, they said, "When God closes a door, he opens a window." While you can't find anything about God opening spiritual windows to sneak through in the Bible, the idea of God opening spiritual doors is Biblically important.  Read More

A few years ago, one of the biggest shows in the world was The Walking Dead. Have you ever watched it? If not, it’s about a group of people surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. They call the zombies, “the walking dead,” i.e., “walkers” for short. I used to be really into it. At my former church in North Carolina, we basically had a Walking Dead CG. We would gather most Sunday nights for a watch party then sit around and discuss theories after the episode.  Read More

Do you know that heavenly feeling of taking a shower and changing into new clothes when it's well overdue?  Read More

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that there is no inherent right to abortion found in the constitution. They will now allow the states to make their own laws regarding abortion. Governor Charlie Baker said that abortion will be protected in Massachusetts and Michelle Wu also came out in support of abortion for the City of Boston. Ok, now, as your pastor I must wade into difficult waters.  Read More

When you become a dad, dad jokes become infinitely funnier, and the lawn becomes an obsession. I didn't mean for it to happen to me, but here we are. My kids constantly roll their eyes at my jokes and I'm taking care of our tiny lawn like a newborn baby. There's nothing like mowing the grass and having everyone walk by and talk about how wonderful it smells and how good it looks.  Read More

Just a few months after we moved to Boston, we got to experience the otherworldly Super Bowl win by Tom Brady against the Atlanta Falcons. If you don't remember, let me remind you. down by 25 with about 17 minutes left in the game, the Patriots came back to win. It was the most incredible comeback I have ever witnessed.  Read More

When I was a kid, receiving actual physical letters with a stamp on them was one of the best things in my young life. They tended to cluster around my birthday, and about nine out of ten had cold hard cash. As much as I loved birthday cards and cash, it was always extra special to receive a random letter. They were usually addressed to "Master Ivey Rhodes." Which, I still have no idea why children are called "master."  Read More