This Guarantees You’ll Smile in One Year Stretching before you, further than the eye can see, lays a New Year–365 Days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536, 000 seconds. Over that time,..
Touch God This Christmas Many people fear God. They believe he’s as approachable as King Kong. It’s no wonder. After all, they recall the story of Moses and the terrified..
The Three Dreams of Joseph In Matthew’s gospel, attention is fixed on Mary, Jesus, the star, the shepherds, the manger, and the magi with their gifts of frankincense, myrrh..
Be Thankful For This In my lifetime I remember no other occasion when I questioned the veracity of so many people and organizations. Who can we trust? Politicians? The..
This Danger Lurks Nearby In a scene from the television show, Animal Planet, a compelling image shows a herd of gazelles grazing in the middle of a meadow. The golden..
How the Humble Handle Power Humility is measured by how we handle losses. Humble people avoid excuses and finger pointing. They accept that even a valiant effort may fail...
Hard . . . But Not Impossible As God has forgiven you, so must you forgive others. “But I can’t,” you might say. “You don’t understand what they did to me.” You’re..
Getting Past Spiritual Barriers Here’s the situation: You want to talk with someone about the Lord, but you’re not sure how. For years I shared Christ in the same way while..
A Thought: On My Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Saturday, my wife Cindy and I will celebrate 50 years of marriage. Prior to our wedding we dated a year-and-a-half. On our second date, a day..
Overcoming Your Greatest Fear Had you sat beside Jesus in Gethsemane, and known what he would face, you might have questioned his resiliency. If the thought of crucifixion..
To Avoid Comparisons Do This Compare yourself to someone with more feel small. Compare yourself to someone with less feel big. For awhile. Comparisons..
Spontaneous Jesus Spontaneous: Coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned...
COMPLETELY RUINED! Did Jesus teach that people who build their life on the foundation of his teaching would be spiritually impregnable? I’ve taught that many times...
God Gave You The Gift of Anger Where does such a powerful emotion as anger come from? It may surprise you to know it’s a gift from God. In his excellent book, The Other Side..
Jesus Placed This Above Mission Confused and afraid, the disciples left the upper room and stepped onto the narrow Jerusalem street. The frigid air—like their growing..
I’ve Got the Boat. Who’s Got the Gas? Jesus often spoke in riddles. For instance, what did he mean when asked the following two questions intended to free us from worry: “Is not..
What Did Jesus Mean? “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing?” When I open the door for someone at the grocery store, I appreciate a friendly, “Thank you.” Don’t you? I pretty much feel that way about any act..
This Makes a Winning Team Meism says “Me first.” It stands in opposition to weism that says “Team first.” The threat of meism prompted Jesus to remove it from his team...
Who’s Playing You? The great composer Mendelssohn visited a cathedral in Europe that housed the most magnificent organ in the world. The German composer quietly sat..
Need Hope? Read This Nobody invites discouragement for dinner. But he needs no invitation. He slips past the door with the silence of a cat. Or, he knocks down the..
Why did Jesus First Appear to a Woman? The risen Lord first appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mk.16:9, Jn. 20:15-17). He next appeared to: “Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other..
How to Choose an Ally Sometimes the appeal of a bad alliance leads us down the wrong path. Maybe Bonnie and Clyde should have dated someone else. Erick and Lyle..
Jesus Got Angry Four Times James said, “for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20). Why? Because God’s anger is perfectly justified and..
The Night My Life Changed Since I moved to Oregon I’ve enjoyed reminding myself how much I detest the wet, cloudy, miserable winters. Did I say wet? Did I say cloudy? Did..
“Get Behind Me Satan!” Recall the Lord’s wilderness temptation. After the last test, we’re told, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an..
