 Sometimes, to be a leader, you need to be defined not only by what you are but also by what you are not. This article is meant to describe what I am not. In this article, I want you to know that I am not a continuationist. I’m not writing this to persuade you to my camp, but just to explain why I am not a continuationist.
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 It seemed like such an odd detail. In a list praising Abraham for being willing to sacrifice his son, Moses for giving up a life of luxurious living, and Noah for building a boat and saving all of humanity, the statement about Jacob really stood out to me. “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff” (Hebrews 11:21). I was preaching through Hebrews 11 when I first paid attention to that verse and was confused by the statement. What in the world did leaning on a staff have to do with faith?
 The day is coming closer. The day you dread every year. The day you wish would never come. If you could just snap your fingers and skip this day completely, you would. The day that will find you constantly thinking about the loved one you lost. Grief is already hard to bear, but facing the anniversary of the death of a loved one can sometimes feel like you are reliving the whole thing again.
Six years ago this Saturday (July 27), my world came crashing down. My brother and best friend, Chad Phelps, was tragically killed in a bus accident that also claimed his wife, Courtney, their unborn baby girl, and one of the youth sponsors also on that bus. Each time this day rolls around on the calendar, I’m reminded of the shock of that day six years ago.  Merriam-Webster defines the word reckless as “marked by lack of proper caution; careless of consequences.”
A while back, I got into a small (and probably unnecessary) online debate on whether or not God’s love should be described as reckless. While one can make a fair argument that it can be used as a poetic expression to describe how God’s radical love appears to us, I would venture to guess that most Christians believe that God isn’t actually reckless in his love, especially if we’re defining it as “marked by lack of proper caution; careless of consequences.” God is the all-sovereign, all-knowing God who knows the end from the beginning. Recklessness is impossible for him.  It has been several years ago now, but I was once speaking with a children’s director at a church in Maryland about kids ministry. While talking, this man pointed to a picture on the wall in a classroom that really bothered him. It was a picture of Noah’s Ark, similar to this one…
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