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The coronavirus may have shut the doors of churches on Sunday mornings, but it has not stopped the church from meeting. It all started when I went on a camping trip the weekend that the quarantine was initiated. For the first five minutes of the car ride, we gave everyone permission to say whatever they wanted about Covid, and then for the rest of the trip it was banned to speak of it. Instead of dwelling on coronavirus, we embraced the outdoors, explored scenic byways, hiked to the top of a mountain, wound our way up to a waterfall, and lingered long around campfires. All the while, we mingled between story-telling, joking, and talking about life and Jesus. The serious, the sacred, the lightheartedness, and the laughter became inseparable. We breathed the fresh air, and also our hearts breathed afresh from the mutual encouragement of the others. We watched the evening campfire die while knowing that a fire had been kindled in our souls. Upon our return Saturday evening, we hadn’

Not too long ago, I had a young woman living with me who was a delight to be around. And I really think it was because she enjoyed the simplest of things. A bag of hot chips from the grocery store and a walk in the park could absolutely make her day. She also loved to get out and do things with me — church, small group, the movies, a Super Bowl party. We regularly ate dinner together, and at least once a week we would pull our groceries together and cook. Sometimes after dinner in the lull of the conversation, she would contentedly announce, “Today has been a good day.” As if that’s all that needed to be said. And perhaps it was.  A little more recently, a different friend asked me if I had had a good day, to which I gave a half-hearted, kind-of-sort-of yes. Because he is kind, he followed up with a great question. “What makes a good day?” How do you measure that?  “I think it has to do with the conversations we have,” I said. “Good conversations make a good day.” And by good

We are living in a historic moment — do we realize this? Coronavirus is literally history in the making. Are  we going to watch Netflix while the world is changing? Or will be found leaning into the opportune moment, pressing into the Lord to ask him what he thinks about all this? I see so many potential good things coming out of this unique season.  People have free time now more than ever before, for one. The fast-paced, schedule-booked, average American is forcibly been slowed down and isolated. The absolute best way to spend this extra time is to linger with the Lord and abide in Christ. No longer do people have the excuse that they “don’t have time” to pray or study the Word. If the people of God use this margin of time to abide in Christ, fruit will be produced — That’s the promise of John 15. And the fruit that will be produced could be the catalyst of personal and massive revival.   People have also been separated from the privilege of attending church. I  highly  valu