December 2017 Blog Posts (8)

Roller coasters are for young people. If you’re over 50 and still like roller coasters, I think you’re either crazy, or perhaps you just like going to chiropractors.

People probably like roller coasters for the same reason they like scary movies. There’s an undeniable adrenaline surge when you think your life’s in jeopardy.

But I’m not sure that’s a healthy way to live.

I’ve discovered lately that many people who no longer ride Disney World roller coasters are instead…

Like King David in the Psalms, many of my journal entries in recent years could have been titled, “Why am I so depressed…so dissatisfied with life?” This was especially true most years in November and December, when I faced holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

So it came as a surprise when I noticed this month that I’m happier than I’ve been in years – even decades. How could this be, when most things in my life are exactly the same as they’ve been for the past…

We don’t know the exact time frame of the journey made by “wise men from the East” in search of young King Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12). It may have been several months or even a few years after Jesus’ birth when they arrived at Herod’s palace and asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (v. 1).

But while some of the details of their journey may be unclear, there’s much we can learn from the wonderful example set by the…

You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.

He will be highly honored all around the world. He will be the…

 Tis the season for graduations. Many years ago, at my Seminary graduation, the commencement speaker spoke on the subject “Don’t Forget the Lily Work” from 1 Kings 7:15-22. Hiram finished the construction of Solomon’s Temple with two pillars, each one 27 feet tall, topped with two capitals, each 7 ½ feet high. Then 34 ½ feet above the ground, where no human eye could see, Hiram added the beautiful lily work. “The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars was…

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain” the Lord told him.

Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain.…

When a friend recently asked me to share my thoughts on the “Proverbs 31” woman and man, it unexpectedly was a painful experience. As never before, I realized how cynical I had become on the subject of an ideal marriage. For far too many couples – even Christian couples – the marital ideal of “heaven on earth” has degenerated into something akin to hell on earth.

Solomon (or “King Lemuel”) asks, “Who can find a virtuous…

But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it,

for I cannot present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.”

2 Samuel 24:24 NLT

Grace is free, but…