Mike Leake

God’s a gentleman.  He won’t force himself upon you.  He will not do what you do not ask Him to.  So, you have to ask.  It’s your choice.  It’s your decision.  God won’t make it for you. I’ve heard those types of phrases numerous times.  This may surprise you, coming from a Calvinist like myself, but theologically I agree with those statements when it comes to the point of repentance and faith.  God doesn’t believe for us.  God doesn’t repent for us.  And He’s not going to take you kicking and screaming into heaven. So, yeah I guess in some respects I agree with those … [Read more...] about Jesus, So Much More Than a Gentleman

“…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 1:13b What does that look like, to set your hope fully on future grace?  It looks like a desperate gambler that has placed every bit of livelihood that the Roulette wheel lands on black.  It looks like the poker player sitting with pocket Aces convinced that he will have the “nut hand”. If it doesn’t land on black you are homeless.  If some other guy gets lucky on the flop and you find yourself up the river with only a pair of Aces and the other guy is sitting there with a Full House … [Read more...] about Going “All-In”

I preached on this text the other evening: Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7 ESV) It’s sad that for many our first response to this text is to be chaffed because Peter refers to the woman as the “weaker vessel”.  And in some ways I understand that because guys can be jerks and use texts like this one to promote their insecure theology.  Yet if we aren’t careful we’ll neuter the beauty of this text … [Read more...] about One Reason Your Prayers May Be Hindered

If you are not familiar with the prosperity “gospel” turn on your television and watch TBN for about 15 minutes.  There you will be exposed to the damnable teaching that what the gospel is really about is securing our health, wealth, and happiness and our best life now.  Consider these words of Kenneth Copeland concerning Paul’s thorn in the flesh: Paul's thorn in the flesh is a tradition that Satan has used to deceive and rob many people. Using it as an excuse, tradition says that God gets glory from sickness because the world sees how marvelously the Christian bears pain and agony.Tradition … [Read more...] about The Effect of the Prosperity “Gospel” On Pain

…there’s always someone around recording the things someone says and does, presumably for the purpose of scrutiny.  -Dana Carvey The above quote comes from an article wherein Dana Carvey laments the “scary and dangerous” trend of comics refusing to mock President Obama.  I’m not really concerned about what Carvey is saying in regards to our president, but what I do find interesting is his observation that we are so ridiculously sensitive in our culture.  And we are also diligent in reading and processing information (usually quickly and out of context) and just as diligent in looking for … [Read more...] about A Plea To Overlook Offenses Instead of Just Looking For Them

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.  -Proverbs 14:30 Every morning several blogs, including Borrowed Light, will feature a list of recommended articles from the day before.  For a little guy like me making it on one of these lists will mean an instant boost in traffic. I normally get about 400-500 hits per day.  Not much, but it’s a steadily increasing number.  The few times that I have gotten a link from a certain blogger, whose name rhymes with Clem Tallies, my hit count went up to about 3000 for the day.  Not to mention gaining a handful of … [Read more...] about How to Not Host a Rotting Blog

I have really poor eyesight. Not able to see the big giant “E” type of horrible eyesight. Not even knowing that there are letters I’m supposed to see type of horrible eyesight. Nevertheless, I was planning on driving 45 miles without my contacts.  I wanted God to know I was serious about having my eyes healed.  It wasn’t really bugging me that I couldn’t see but my homeboy Benny Hinn was telling me that I needed to whole and complete and not have any sickness.  I felt fine, but these dastardly eyes were a problem. So I did what he told me to do. With trembling hands I touched … [Read more...] about Review of Health, Wealth, and Happiness

There is a spot on my stomach—somewhat stretched from too much McDonalds—that is a reminder of my days as an avid baseball player.  I am not certain that it would classify as a scar.  It’s nothing gnarly.  It is not a portrait of a painful injury or anything of the sort.  It is simply a discoloration of the skin that certainly belongs in the scar family but probably as a sissy third cousin. That “thing” on my stomach comes from not one play but a lifetime of aggressive baseball.  It probably originally came from diving for ground balls playing shortstop or second base.  It grew more … [Read more...] about Review of The Sacred Wilderness of Pastoral Ministry

During a mission trip to inner-city Kansas City I found myself sharing the gospel with a homeless man.  As his alcohol-laced breath washed over me I began wondering if this man was actually a believer.  He was speaking as if he understood fundamental elements of who God is, that he understood the effects of the Cross, he seemed to understand and be convinced of the sinfulness of mankind. Just as I was beginning to encourage myself that this man was a believer he took a really strange detour.  The next thing I knew we were talking about Moses being an alien and a whole host of other weird … [Read more...] about Review of “The World Tilting Gospel” by Dan Phillips

100 stinking push ups. That’s what one of my coaches in High School made me do because I called him Kareem Abdul (insert his last name).  Apparently, I should have called him Kareem Abdul COACH (insert his last name).  He clearly derived his identity as “coach”, even down to his early 90’s coach mustache.  So, a mouthy freshman teasing him about his less-than-stellar hook shots must have insulted his identity a little too much.  So he figured making the scrawny kid do a hundred girly looking push-ups ought to teach me to respect not only his ‘stache and his hook shots but also his identity … [Read more...] about Mustache Coaches and Pastoral Identity