I love the American flag.

I learned to love it early. My parents were strict about it. When we went to parades, they taught me to take off my hat and hold it over my heart whenever the flag passed.

In elementary school, we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

As a Cub Scout, I learned flag etiquette that I still follow to this day.

In high school, I was a state finalist at the American Legion Ohio Citizens Bee and won an American Legion college scholarship.

We fly a big American flag on the front of our house every day. I raise it at first light every morning and take it down at sunset every night. I never leave it up in the rain.

I’m disappointed by some of my fellow Americans who don’t seem to know how to treat the flag with honor and respect.

Some examples:

The American flag should not be left out in the dark unless a light is shining on it. But in my...

When I moved to Detroit, I had to learn about hockey.

For example, there are three main positions in hockey: forwards, defense, and goaltender. You can guess what players in each of those positions do.

When I first came to Detroit, the city’s professional hockey team, the Red Wings, had a center forward so popular that people around town simply called him “The Captain.” Steve Yzerman played all 23 seasons of his hall of fame career for the Red Wings. He wore the “C” (for “captain”) on his hockey sweater for 20 of those 23 seasons. When Yzerman retired in 2006, he was the second all-time leading scorer in Red Wings history (next to “Mr. Hockey” himself, Gordie Howe).

Soon after I learned about the Captain, I learned about a player who filled another important role on the Red Wings: Darren McCarty.

McCarty was the “enforcer,” a position you will not find in the hockey program you...

Fact: If your guy wins the election this fall, the people who voted for the guy who lost are not going away.

Democrats, there is no future of America without Republicans in it.

Republicans, there is no future of America without Democrats in it.

City people, there is no future of America without country people in it.

Country people, there is no future of America without city people in it.

Conservatives, there is no future of America without liberals in it.

Liberals, there is no future of America without conservatives in it.

People of color, there is no future of America without white people in it.

White people, there is no future of America without people of color in it.

If someone tells you that by voting for them, you can make half of the country go away, you need to find a better candidate to hire for office. He or she is either lying or stupid. You deserve better than a...

It’s September 11 and I never will forget what happened or how it felt on this day 19 years ago.

“Never forget” is a thing a lot of people say in memory of that day.

This year, for the first time, I started to wonder: Never forget what?

The first thought that came to me when I asked myself the question is: “Never forget what happened.”

That thought led to: “Never forget who did it.”

That thought didn’t get far. It ran into my allegiance to the rule of Jesus Christ, whose command is to forgive and to love enemies. I don’t get a pass on that because I am an American or because the world is dangerous.

No, if there are people who hate me because I am American or Christian, the Christ who hung on the cross for them tells me to take up my own cross and do the same. The Christ who prayed “Father, forgive them” over those who crucified him requires I pray the same prayer for those...

At a Christian men’s retreat back in college, a preacher asked us to guess which command shows up most often in the Bible.

His answer? “Do not be afraid.”

I didn’t fact-check him on that, but Google told me the command appears at least 70 times. That’s a lot.

If you are a believer and God-follower as I try to be, you believe in obeying God’s commands without question.

So, if God says “do not be afraid” 70 times in the Bible, would you agree that he really means it?

In my reading of the Bible, God gives overwhelming proof that we don’t need to be afraid. From Genesis to Revelation, God comes through for his people again and again with love and power.

When you think about all of your favorite Bible stories, you see the same theme: God works to help his people overcome every threat to their lives.

At least half of the Christians I know count this as their favorite Bible verse:

My dad was a Church of Christ preacher and my mom was a school secretary. They raised three children.

Dad and Mom brought us up to believe and practice good, old-fashioned family values and the teachings of the Bible.

I am proud of my upbringing and thankful for it. Now that I’m a dad, I’m trying to pass on the things my parents taught me.

My youngest sister, Bethy, was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic disease that affects the digestive system and lungs. When Bethy was born in 1983, they didn’t give her much of a chance to live beyond her teen years.

Bethy needed a lot of extra health care. She needed more health care than the rest of the family put together. At least once a month, my parents drove Bethy from our small town in rural Ohio up to a big hospital in Cleveland. Every day, the had to do a lot of special in-home treatment just for her. Since my parents didn’t have...

The Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16 records a story that Jesus told in his day.

You can read the story for yourself here.

Farms and farmers’ markets were the heart of the economy in Jesus’s time.

Farmers grew food and sold it at markets in the cities.

When farmers needed a labor force to work on their farms, they hired day laborers from the cities.

Likewise, when people in the cities needed money to buy food from the farmers’ markets, they hired themselves out to work on the farms.

So, the story Jesus told is one that would sound so normal to people that it would almost be boring…until the surprise twist at the end of the story.

In this story, a farmer needed laborers to work in his vineyard. So, as any farmer would do, he went to the public square in the nearest town. There, he would find people waiting from someone to hire them for the day.

In this story, the farmer went to the...

Well, if you know that you’re a racist and you like it that way, the answer is “yes.”

But, I reckon your answer to the question is “no, I’m not a racist.”

And you might add: “I’m sick and tired of people telling me that I am one!”

But just between you and me (nobody else is here and I’m not telling anyone), would you say that you’re perfect? Would you say that you don’t have anything you need to work on? Any growth or maturation that God wants to see through in you? Would you say that you no longer have any trace of the sinful nature in you?

If you’re still with me, I know you know that you’re a work in progress. I know you know that God is still growing you through your vices and weaknesses. I know you know that you still pray for grace and mercy every day.

So, then, let’s go back to the question: Are you a racist?

No, but could you confess that you are a sinner? And, as a...

That depends. Which “us” do I mean?

In this case, “us” means Christians in the United States of America.

As long as I’ve been alive and part of the Church of Christ, this has been a question that comes up again and again.

Coming from Christians, it is a strange question.

We are the ones who call Jesus Christ “our Lord and Savior.”

So what do we mean when we ask: “Who is going to save us?”

Most often, the question comes up whenever we talk about politics.

So, what we mean is: “Who is going to save us from whatever cultural or political forces we perceive as threats to our beliefs and norms?”

But here is the question I want to ask in response to that question:

Is our Lord and Savior not able to save us from these things?

Do we believe that Jesus Christ is able to save us from the power of sin, but not the power of a sinful world?

The real question my fellow Christians...

The Gospel of John (Chapter 9) tells a story about Jesus coming across a blind panhandler on the street.

If you live in my city, you know disabled panhandlers are a common sight at a lot of street corners.

The people walking down the street with Jesus saw this blind panhandler and asked: “Teacher, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” (Gospel of John 9:2).

Jesus answered right away: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (Gospel of John 9:3).

I wonder: Do we look at people the way Jesus’s friends looked at the blind panhandler? How quickly do we jump to the conclusion that someone must be a sinner? Or that someone must be part of a sinful family?

It’s worth noting, too, that it was this man’s disability and poverty that Jesus’s friends took as proof of his sinfulness.

He must be...