The (not quite) Holy Family.

I have three scenarios for you: 1: You’re a regular “Joe Schmo” going about your daily business. You meet this, girl fall in love, and ask her dad for her hand in marriage. He says yes, and so does she. You’re excited, you’re sitting on top of the world. You start saving up money, building a house, and getting things in order for the big day. A few months go by and your bride-to-be has a baby bump and you know for sure that you’re not the baby daddy. 2. You’re a young girl minding your own business, trying to plan a wedding and out of nowhere, this angel appears and say you’re about to be pregnant. Did I forget to mention you’re a virgin and you plan on staying that way for a very long time (like eternity)? 3. Your dad is the king of the Universe. Not only that, but He created it and everything in it. Actually, so did you. You’re royalty. You can do anything you want, whenever you want. Life is real good! And then, your father gets this great idea. How about you give u...

Very little is known and said of St. Joseph in Scripture. And, he doesn't say a word in the Bible, either. However, there are a few things Scripture does tell us. We know that Joseph was a righteous man (Matthew 1:19), that he was obedient to the Lord (Matthew 1:24,) and that he came from the line of King David--kind of a big deal (Matthew 1: 1-16). Why would this holy and righteous man, foster-father of Jesus and relative of Israel’s greatest king, have nothing to say throughout the whole Bible? What is the Lord teaching us in this? Rather, what is the Lord teaching me? A week ago I had a unique opportunity to travel to our home in Haiti without my family. I went to help lead a mission trip and to tackle a very intense “honey do” list given to me by my wife. One of the things on that list was to move out of our old condemned home into our beautiful new home (graciously built by mission partners). As I was walking across our mission base lugging suitcase after suitcase, carr...

For the next 9 days I'll be traveling to the exotic Caribbean island of Haiti with 34 friends, no wife, no kids. This is a dream come true right? What man doesn't desire 9 days without His wife and three kids aged 3 and under while he hangs out with his friends on the beach in perfect 85 degree weather. Man, it's going to be amazing! Ok, enough sarcasm. The fact is that it’s more fun traveling through busy airports with my wife and three kids than to be separated from them for over a week. Though not the ideal scenario, in this particular situation I do have to travel alone because our newborn has no passport yet. I am often asked why I would take my wife and young children and bring them to a developing country. People try to tell me that it's not fair, that I’m depriving my kids from all that America has to offer and placing them in danger of getting sick, not having proper education and even death (all things that happen in every country around the world).  ...