This week our nation is reeling from another terrible tragedy. And, the cacophony of voices offering solutions is loud. We definitely need legal protections for our citizens. We must address the mental health needs of our people.  Ignoring or...

From time to time, we all have serious conflict with those around us. You want your child to choose college, but they want a surfing career. Your daughter brings home the “wrong guy.” Your employer requires sensitivity training that promotes...

Recently, Elizabeth Bonker gave the valedictorian speech at Rollins College in Florida. No doubt the audience expected the usual sophomoric enthusiasm that regularly comes from these graduations. What made her speech different is the fact that she...

A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with a dear friend who was recently given a diagnosis that suggests she only has 8 more months to live. A day or two later, I had coffee with a friend who is enduring a second round of cancer. That same day, I...

Spring seems to have sprung in most parts of the US. Fledgling plants are peaking up through the soil, temperatures are inching up and most of us are starting to spend some time outdoors. In the Bible, spring came in the month of Nissan. And...

In the gospel of John chapter ten, Jesus states that the devil is a thief and he comes to steal, kill and destroy the lives of believers. But He contrasts that doom and gloom with this promise: “I have come that they may have life and that they may...

It is the week after Easter, so very likely this past Sunday we all sang Charles Wesley’s famous hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” It is an incredible song that reminds us all of the power and implications of Christ’s resurrection. There are...

I have some friends who have been missionaries for 30 some years. They just recently returned from overseas and are experiencing quite the culture shock. Their estimate of what a car should cost was woefully understated in their budget. What they...

Do you remember what your first lunch box was like? Some Boomers will shout out, “We just had brown bags!” I too remember a sandwich wrapped in wax paper in a tan bag. But then the metal boxes came along. And each fall, I got to pick the theme for...

I love the British Isles. Lived there as a kid, did my senior year of high school in a boarding school north of London and have visited many times since. While I delight in the English countryside, the quaint villages, the flower pots and row...

I have just started teaching a new Bible study series on Heaven. And last week, we explored the penetrating question, “Are you homesick for heaven?” I started my remarks with the statement that we all were made for another world. This experience we...

One of my favorite stories about murmuring and complaining involves a monk. Apparently he “joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, "Do you have anything to say?" The monk replied,...