May 2016 Blog Posts (11)

A few years ago, an interesting question surfaced in classrooms and seminars, “If you knew you wouldn’t fail what would you do?” In the follow-up discussion, I always had to remind my students the only way to avoid failure, was to do no more, nor no less than what God called them to do. The Apostle Paul had an amazing agenda, and may have been asked, “How do you keep doing all that you do?” His answer was written to a group of believers in Philippi, “I can do all things through Christ who…

Many people think of Christianity as just another religion—a set rules and regulations, basically telling people just to “try harder.” But those who pursue a relationship with God on that basis will inevitably end up even more burdened and bound up than when they started.

In stark contrast, a true relationship with Christ will increasingly remove our burdens and set us free from our hang-ups. That’s why we’re told, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has…

The Lord your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing. Deuteronomy 2:7 NLT

If we let God take care of our fortune, we can look around in gratitude. God has blessed us in our work. Insight, intelligence, and income are all heaven’s gifts. Our…

Lately I’ve met lots of people who seem to be perpetually stuck in Groundhog Day. You’ve probably seen the classic 1993 movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Murray plays a weatherman named Phil who’s assigned to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He finds himself stuck in a time loop, forcing him to reexamine his life and priorities.

Day after day, Phil wakes up to the same Groundhog Day reality, with a chance to make better choices this…

You must give the Levites six cities of refuge where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety.  Numbers 35:6 NLT

God is our Hiding Place from sin. If we got what was coming to us, we would be destroyed as quickly as a dandelion in a windstorm, but…

I once read a book by a psychologist who said we all need to get in touch with our “inner child.” I never really understood what he meant by that. But I thought it might help to hang this picture of me on my office wall.

Although that solution hasn’t helped me much yet, I haven’t given up the search for my inner child…

As you can see by this picture, I was…

Sea of Galilee Sunrise

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries.’” (Numbers 34:2 NLT)

Providentially, God engineers the lay of the land to…

For those of you who feel like you’ve tried everything to lose weight, I have a solution I bet you’ve never considered: Move to the moon!

I’ll admit, it’s not a great environment there. Restaurants and other amenities are sorely lacking at this point.

However, because the gravity on the moon is only 16% of the earth’s gravity, you would immediately experience an amazing drop in your weight. No crash diet necessary. No personal trainer required. While maintaining the same…

As every student of history knows, America was in crisis in 1863. Despite Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves in January of that year, the Civil War raged on, with no end in sight.

Today America is in crisis again, even though the symptoms aren’t yet as obvious. And while presidential candidates promise to “make America great again,” they offer solutions that fail to recognize what made America great in the first place. Their faulty premise is that greatness…

"Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites by displaying passionate zeal among them on my behalf." (Numbers 25:11 NLT)

Christians should be zealous for…

If you’re feeling disillusioned today, you should be thankful. Why? Because disillusionment is an essential part of coming to terms with reality, which is the only way your life can be transformed.

We all need to be dis-illusioned from time to time—because that means being freed from our illusions. Dictionaries define an “illusion” as “a false mental image produced by misinterpretation of things that actually exist.” Until disillusionment has occurred in our lives, we’re…