"One thing that drew me to our church was the old people. We visited a few churches in the area [before joining this one], but I’d walk in and look around and be like, everyone here is just like me–young couples with young kids. They can’t help me. They don’t know any more about [...]
Feral. Adj. Describing an animal that has left a domesticated state and returned to the wild. Alley cats and pigeons are examples feral animals. A few years ago, we lived in a small central Texas town and had lots of problems with feral pigs. We lived close to the high school’s Ag barn where [...]
I’ve just seen this video and am pretty speechless. It’s funny how great art can move you deeply even though you’re pretty sure you don’t get it all just yet. From the under-acclaimed Iron and Wine, you HAVE to experience Boy With A Coin. It was something I completely didn’t see coming… Boy With [...]
I’ve been kicking this post around in my head for a while. The hard thing is that blogs have inherently short posts, and this is not something I can express in 200 words or less. Nevertheless… As I posted not too long ago, a very dear ministry friend of mine emerged from rehab a [...]
Although I’m pretty sure you’ll never find this on any church’s website, I think it’ll do nicely for a tomcottar(dot)org Statement of Faith… "We at tomcottar(dot)org acknowledge that God’s coming to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and recounted in the Gospels turns upside down what we used to think about concepts like "truth", [...]
Yeah. This one is actually TRUE. I’ve heard (mostly stupid) stories about ‘worship wars’ and, although no one I know has actually died from one, this looks like it’s gotten out of hand. ANN ARBOR, MI — Without a warrant or other legal authorization, uniformed police officers conducted several raids on Faith Baptist Church [...]
On February 26, 2008, Starbucks closed 7,100 of its doors. I remember it as Black Tuesday. OK, it wasn’t like the stock market crashed or the Great Depression hit and we were emptying out tanker trucks of milk in the streets. But that evening from 5:30 to 9pm, they closed their doors for ‘retraining’. Starbucks [...]
If you haven’t seen this clip from ER, check it out. Some pretty honest emotions about God and faith from a man on his deathbed. The commentary afterwards is, unfortunately, not as powerful as the clip from the show. Partly because, IMO, the actor comes across more passionate than the speaker at the end. [...]
When I get there I have to stand behind this guy who doesn’t get it. Waiting not-so-patiently for my turn. “Grande. Non-fat. Decaf. Americano.” Seriously? Everything in his life is probably decaf. Diet. Low-cal. Non-fat. Why is he even here? What does he want from You? Sterile water with [...]
“We are a company of Christian men. We are also natural loners, who have recognized the dangers of isolation and are determined to escape them, natural wanderers who are finding spiritual peace and prosperity at home, natural liars who are now finding freedom in the truth, natural judges who are learning how to judge [...]