Everything that exists had a starting point . . . including you. You may have started on purpose. You may have started by accident (from your parent’s perspective). You may even have started through the magic of medical science. Whatever the circumstances, you had a starting point and it began before you were aware of it.

Physical life is one of many starting points. Your formal education had a starting point. Your career had a starting point. Your romantic life had a starting point. Your experience as a parent had a starting point.

Faith has a starting point as well.

On the same Palm Sunday afternoon of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, another parade was happening on the other side of the city. It was a parade for Pontius Pilate designed to promote the strength and power of the Roman Empire. When your compare and contrast these two events, we come to learn that Jesus came to Earth to show us that there's another way to do life.

We hear stories of religious fanatics who say and do things that look nothing like the life of Jesus. They give God credit and we're left scratching our heads at what's being done in the name of Christianity. The problem with religion and why it’s so destructive is so many people assume that religion and God are same. Religion was never meant be the end, but a means to the end.

We’ve all been picked on for something we had no control over. It’s dehumanizing. In all likelihood, you’ve also picked on others. It’s such a strange thing. It’s such a human thing. The easiest way to feel superior is to find a person or group we feel is inferior and power up. And we’ve probably all been guilty of that outwardly or inwardly.

One of the reasons Jesus came into the world was to change all that.

If there is a God, we all want to know what he’s like. We’re curious. Our tendency is to look in nature, outer space, or within ourselves to find clues about him. But that only provides us with an incomplete picture. Jesus made a radical claim. He said if you want to know about God, look no further than him. If you’ve seen the Son, you’ve seen the Father.

If you think about it, one of the craziest things we believe as Christians is that the God who made the world became one of us. Two thousand years ago, a man named John who hung out with Jesus wrestled with same question. And he was an eyewitness of everything Jesus said and did.

Why in the world would God do that?

The stigma attached to singleness isn't a new phenomenon. It has been around a long time. It turns out Jesus had important things to say about being single.