In October I traveled to Israel and got to see with my own eyes the places I’ve just read about in the Bible. When I experienced for myself the barrenness of the southern desert region I could understand better how hard it must have been for the Jews to leave the relative fertility of Egypt [...]
“My feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped” (Psalm 73:2). Recently I was marching along in some tall grass, unaware of how treacherous the ground was beneath my feet. Since I’m normally very surefooted, I was confident I’d make it safely through the shortcut. It was growing dark, and we were in a [...]
When we started our accountability group a few years ago none of us had any idea what lay ahead. But my two friends and I felt led to join our lives together, agreeing to meet once a week to share, read Scripture, and pray together. I’m sure glad we did. All of us have already [...]
What would be our reaction if a Christian speaker stood up and began to declare all the reasons why we shouldn’t become a Christian? Picture it. The speaker pleads with us, not to come forward on the next chorus, but to think more about the decision before giving our lives to Jesus. He points out [...]
Can you imagine a world where nothing is named? How could we make sense of what we’re seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling? Everything – and everyone – would be experienced randomly. Without a name to assign to a face, how could we build a relationship? Without a name for our favorite foods, the [...]
Among holiday movies, It’s a Wonderful Life ranks high in popularity with most people. Many would say it’s their favorite Christmas movie ... and for good reason. The idea of the film is brilliant. Exploring the what ifs of the human experience, it asks the haunting questions that tug at our hearts. Can one life [...]
When I was a preteen I used to go to major league baseball games with my aunt and uncle. They lived in the Kansas City area and were die-hard Athletics fans. It was fun to tag along, learning from them the players’ names, what their strengths and weaknesses were, and which visiting teams posed the [...]
I’ve just returned from a ten-day vacation out west. Tony and I connected briefly with family members in Kansas City and Colorado, and then the rest of the time was spent sightseeing. We saw mountains, desert, and the Great Plains via our rented car. The diversity was truly incredible! We drove as far west as [...]
Back in the ‘80s we used to sing a chorus taken from Scripture (Psalm 27:6; Hebrews 13:15). The song was written by Kirk Dearman. It went like this: We bring the sacrifice of praise Unto the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise Unto the house of the Lord. And we offer up [...]
Try as we may, even Christians have a hard time tuning out our culture’s attitudes and values. We know we aren’t supposed to “let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould” (Romans 12:1, Phillips translation), but … over and over again … we find ourselves being drawn in. Instead of measuring ourselves against [...]
Adventuring with God 