Are you starting the New Year with hope and optimism? Or is your heart filled with dread as you dwell on all the problems facing the world? Beginning this month, I want to turn our attention to biblical truths that will enable us to face the future without fear as we center our lives in [...]
I grew up in the turbulent 60s, graduating from high school in 1964. Sometimes we look back at this time in our history and giggle, thinking it was mostly about hippies and “flower power”, the Beatles, and miniskirts. But much deeper issues were brewing, bringing profound change. Civil rights protests were shaking the South, drugs [...]
I was blessed with one of the world’s best mothers. Her love for her kids was legendary, and her reputation for indulgence? Well, I remember how shocked my kindergarten teacher was when I told her one morning I had hot dogs for breakfast. My mom figured protein was protein. What difference did it make if [...]
Last month we explored what revival looks like. I’d like to continue with the revival theme this month, since this is what’s on my heart. But I want to look at it from another perspective … not so much the WHAT and WHEN but the HOW. How can we help bring revival to our oh-so-thirsty [...]
When Tony and I met, I was still living with my parents, attending university in Wichita, Kansas. He was enrolled at Kansas University in Lawrence – two hundred miles away. We ended up at the same party in Lawrence one weekend and, as sometimes happens, our “chance” meeting developed into something we both wanted to [...]
The Baby Boomers among us will remember the old Phil Spector song (1958) that declares: “To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him; Just to see him smile makes my life worthwhile. To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him. And I do. And I do.” Of course, he [...]
In our western culture of excess, choosing to start small seems strange. We like to launch our work with a big splash, overwhelming everyone with our instant success. Even in our churches, we’ve adopted strategies that mean bigger and bigger buildings, more people on staff, and a congregation so large people have to be divided [...]
When I was a young Christian we used to crack jokes about 1 Timothy 4:8, thinking it was justification for not staying in good physical shape. Here’s how it reads in the KJV (the version we read back then): “For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the [...]
Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” And his question continues to echo down through time. What can we believe? Is there objective truth apart from our perceptions and opinions? Or is truth merely what we want it to be? Today we have to wrestle with philosophical propaganda, wishful thinking, blatant lies, and fake news all [...]
Sometimes biblical statements astound me. Not just in the truth they express but the expanse of their application. Here’s one from 1 Corinthians 1:5: “In [Christ] you have been enriched in every way.” Can it be that every aspect of our lives is enriched … made better … when we belong to Jesus? Is He [...]
Adventuring with God 