I spent this past week at Camp Ida-Haven as camp pastor, where I had the privilege of doing morning devotionals, teaching a life class after lunch, and doing evening worship each day. Though it was a busy week, this type of experience always feeds my soul. I love witnessing the camp staff ministering to the campers and seeing the campers overcome fears, try new things, and have the time of their lives. It is also a wonderful challenge to speak to campers who vary from those who grew up in a Christian home to those who grew up with no religion at all, including some who grew up with different religions. I did my best to share how God loves all of us and wants to have a personal relationship with us.

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On the topic of God’s love, I wrote an interesting post a while back that explores an often-ignored aspect of love.

God's Love Isn't Always Comfortable — And That's Good News

What do you do when the loving thing to do isn’t the easy thing to do? In this post, I share a raw parenting memory — a beach trip, a splinter-covered hand, and the agony of causing pain to help my child — as a lens for one of Scripture’s hardest truths: God’s love doesn’t always feel good in the moment.

Drawing from Romans 5:8, the story of Jonah and Nineveh, and examples like Abraham, Joseph, and David, this post wrestles with the tension between feeling loved and being loved — and why God’s mercy sometimes extends to the people we’d rather it didn’t.

👉 Read the full post to explore why real love isn’t about comfort, and what that means for how we love others too.