November 2017 Blog Posts (10)

All the way through elementary school, I did my writing with pencils. Each year, “#2 Pencils” were on the top of the school supply list.

But when I arrived in middle school, we were expected to use ink pens instead. The writing experience was certainly better with the pens, but there was one major problem: Ink is difficult to erase.

Eventually, some clever marketers came up with “erasable” pens. But that was false advertising, because they were still hard…

During David's reign, there was a famine for three successive years; David sought the face of the LORD. 2 Samuel 21:1 NIV

When life knocks you to your knees, that is a good prayer posture. You can talk to Me about whatever troubles you. I am always available—ask Me, and I…

This Thanksgiving was a chance to reflect once again on my “Gratitude Quotient.” I concluded that I’m happier and more grateful than I’ve been in many years.

However, I uncovered a blog I wrote several years ago admitting two disturbing things: (1) I’m still not nearly as grateful as I should be for how God has blessed me; and (2) Many of the things I’m now MOST grateful for are past events I wasn’t grateful for at all when they were taking place.

I call this second…

Ever since his divorce several years back, my friend Ron has complained to me this time of year about the upcoming holidays. He has his reasons, to be sure, but he’s begun to sound like a broken record.

“It’s just not the same,” he moans. “With my wife gone and my kids living far away, it’s always an agonizing time for me.”

Then he typically cites the gluttony, commercialization, overspending, and other holiday sins as justification for his negative attitudes. You’ve probably…

I’m not an expert on the subject of grief by any means – far from it. Yet recently several friends have had loved ones die suddenly and unexpectedly. I’ve found myself wondering, how are they supposed to handle that?

Then today I noticed a woman at the grocery store who had some sort of Christian bracelet. When I asked about the bracelet, she told me the heart-wrenching story of how her sister had died just two weeks ago of a rare form of cancer.

Wow. How is she supposed to…

Sometimes preachers have thoughts during their sermons that did not occur to them during the preparation time.  It happened to me several years ago on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.…

The men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba.

But the men of Judah stayed with their king and escorted him from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 20:2 NLT

I am the King of hearts—including yours. Others may forsake the True God…

Right now, in the middle of the chaos going on around us, it is emotionally disturbing.

You can feel the frustration building up within you- knowing this is the world we live in.  The chaos begins to pull us in without us realizing we are being pulled in.

When we hear a child killed their parents, a child killed himself because someone was bullying them. When we hear murder is on the inclined, the weather full of hurricanes,…

May the word of my lord the king bring me rest.

2 Samuel 14:17 NIV

I am the King of hearts and Lord of every dimension of your life. When you seriously seek Me, I tranquilize your worry. When you sincerely pray, you experience unparalleled peace of…

I noted in last week’s post that Christianity experienced a seismic paradigm shift when Martin Luther and other reformers essentially zero-based the church’s traditional doctrine of salvation and rebuilt it using only God’s Word—“Sola Scriptura.”

Then I stepped back from the details and considered applying that same strategy to discipling ourselves and others. I asked you, “If we zero-base our understanding of what it means to disciple ourselves and others, and then…