I’m amazed by how patient the Lord is and how much He honors our free will. He values process. He doesn’t rush things or hurry us along our path of maturity. He is content to give us space to seek Him and learn from Him and to slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, become more like Him in […]
Things are not as they appear. After Jesus delivers His first public sermon, He comes from the mountain and a man with leprosy approaches him and kneels before Him. “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” […]
For Christmas, I gave Robyn, our kids and our sons-in-law, each a small smooth stone on which I’d painted a theme Scripture for the new year. Each one was different. As I begin this post, it’s a little after 5:30 a.m. on January 1, 2018, so Happy New Year! Robyn and I have declared it […]
One of my most embarrassing moments ever happened almost twenty years ago. It was back in the days when the internet and email were still in their infancy. I received an email from a friend. It was short and to the point. It said something like, “Check out these links.” Of course today, I’d be […]
There are times when I struggle with trusting God, so it’s something I’m constantly working to get better at. I invest time in His word. I thank and praise Him for His goodness, faithfulness and generosity. I try to take every thought captive and hold them up against the truth of His word. When I […]
As followers of Jesus, we have become citizens of a new kingdom. Paul wrote, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14) It’s important to realize, this kingdom operates very differently […]
About a week ago, Robyn and I were driving home to Arkansas after a wonderful time in New Jersey visiting family and friends. The plan was to stop for the night in Terre Haute, Indiana, so I made reservations at a hotel, entered the address into my phone and off we went. Thirteen hours later, […]
If you took an inventory of your thoughts today…how many do you think would be negative and how many would be positive? How many are causing fear and how many are causing your faith to grow stronger? I rarely watch the news or visit news websites. I also find myself spending a lot less time […]
Eight years ago at this time, I was asking God for something very specific. When it didn’t happen, I gave up praying about it. In the last eight years, I’ve rarely even thought about what I was so fervently praying for. And then this morning, I asked again. It didn’t take long to begin talking […]
When life gets full or complicated or I’m not sure what to do or what decision to make, it always helps me to pull back to the big picture…to ask some fundamental questions. And for me, the biggest one is simply…what does God want? Of course, inherent in the question is the presupposition that there […]